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. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN 



Including Several Hundred Opinions of bis Life and 

Character by Eminent Persons of 

tbis and other Lands 



COMPILED BY 

OSBORN H. OLDROYD 

AUTHOR " LINCOLN MEMORIAL ALBUM," " A SOLDIER'S 
STORY OF THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG" 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

MELVILLE W. FULLER 

Chief Justice of the United States 
AND 

TEUNIS S. HAMLIN 

Pastor Church of the Covenant, Washington, D. C. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 
O. H. OLDROYD 



THESE WORDS OF LINCOLN 

ARE DEDICATED TO THE 

AMERICAN PEOPLE, 

FROM WHOSE HUMBLEST RANKS HE ROSE, 

AND WHOSE INTERESTS 

HE SO FAITHFULLY GUARDED THROUGH A GREAT 

CIVIL CONVULSION. 

WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE, WITH CHARITY FOR ALL.' 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Portrait of A. Lincoln, 



Lincoln Homestead, Springfield, III., 
White House, Washington, D. C, 
Capitol, Washington, D. C, 
Portraits : Lincoln, Nicolay, and Hay — Group, 
Ford's Theater, Washington, D. C, 
Chair in which the President was Shot, 
House in which Lincoln Died, Washing- 
ton, D. C, 

Lincoln Monument, Springfield, III., . 



Frontispiece 
Facing Page 8 
29 
46 

5i 
68 
68 
84 
95 
136 



181 
182 



The chair in which the President was shot, also the photographs from which 
the illustrations were made, are contained in the " Oldroyd Lincoln Memorial 
Collection." 



PREFACE. 



The sun which rose on the 12th of February, 
1809, lighted up a little log cabin on Nolin Creek, 
Hardin Co., Ky., in which Abraham Lincoln 
was that day ushered into the world. Although 
born under the humblest and most unpromising cir- 
cumstances, he was of honest parentage. In this 
backwoods hut, surrounded by virgin forests, Abra- 
ham's first four years were spent. His parents then 
moved to a point about six miles from Hodgens- 
ville, where he lived until he was seven years of 
age, when the family again moved, this time to 
Spencer Co., Ind. 

The father first visited the new settlement alone, 
taking with him his carpenter tools, a few farming 
implements, and ten barrels of whisky (the latter 
being the payment received for his little farm) on a 
flatboat down Salt Creek to the Ohio River. Cross- 
ing the river, he left his cargo in care of a friend, 
and then returned for his family. Packing the bed- 
ding and cooking utensils on two horses, the family 
of four started for their new home. They wended 
their way through the Kentucky forests to those of 
Indiana, the mother and daughter (Sarah) taking 
their turn in riding. 

Fourteen years were spent in the Indiana home. 
It was from this place that Abraham, in company 



Viii PREFACE. 

with young Gentry, made a trip to New Orleans on 
a flatboat loaded with country produce. During 
these years Abraham had less than twelve months 
of schooling, but acquired a large experience in the 
rough work of pioneer life. In the autumn of 1818 
the mother died, and Abraham experienced the first 
great sorrow of his life. Mrs. Lincoln had possessed 
a very limited education, but was noted for intel- 
lectual force of character. 

The year following the death of Abraham's mother 
his father returned to Kentucky, and brought a new 
guardian to the two motherless children. Mrs. 
Sally Johnson, as Mrs. Lincoln, brought into the 
family three children of her own, a goodly amount 
of household furniture, and, what proved a blessing 
above all others, a kind heart. It was not intended 
that this should be a permanent home; accordingly, 
in March, 1830, they packed their effects in wagons, 
drawn by oxen, bade adieu to their old home, and 
took up a two weeks' march over untraveled roads, 
across mountains, swamps, and through dense for- 
ests, until they reached a spot on the Sangamon 
River, ten miles from Decatur, 111., where they built 
another primitive home. Abraham had now arrived 
at manhood, and felt at liberty to go out into the 
world and battle for himself. He did not leave, 
however, until he saw his parents comfortably fixed 
in their new home, which he helped build ; he also 
split enough rails to surround the house and ten 
acres of ground. 

In the fall and winter of 1830, memorable to the 
early settlers of Illinois as the year of the deep 
snow, Abraham worked for the farmers who lived 



PREFACE. IX 

in the neighborhood. He made the acquaintance of 
a man of the name of Offut, who hired him, together 
with his stepbrother, John D. Johnson, and his 
uncle, John Hanks, to take a flatboat loaded with 
country produce down the Sangamon River to 
Beardstown, thence down the Illinois and Missis- 
sippi Rivers to New Orleans. Abraham and his 
companions assisted in building the boat, which was 
finally launched and loaded in the spring of 1831, 
and their trip successfully made. In going over the 
dam at Ruttledge Mill, New Salem, 111., the boat 
struck and remained stationary, and a day passed 
before it was again started on its voyage. During 
this delay Lincoln made the acquaintance of New 
Salem and its people. 

On his return from New Orleans, after visiting his 
parents, — who had made another move, to Goose- 
Nest Prairie, 111., — he settled in the little village of 
New Salem, then in Sangamon, now Menard, County. 
While living in this place, Mr. Lincoln served in the 
Black Hawk War, in 1832, as captain and private. 
His employment in the village was varied; he was 
at times a clerk, county surveyor, postmaster, and 
partner in the grocery business under the firm name 
of Lincoln & Berry. He was defeated for the Illi- 
nois Legislature in 1832 by Peter Cartwright, the 
Methodist pioneer preacher. He was elected to the 
Legislature in 1834, and for three successive terms 
thereafter. 

Mr. Lincoln wielded a great influence among the 
people of New Salem. They respected him for his 
uprightness and admired him for his genial and 
social qualities. He had an earnest sympathy for 



X PREFACE. 

the unfortunate and those in sorrow. All confided 
in him, honored and loved him. He had an unfail- 
ing fund of anecdote, was a sharp, witty talker, and 
possessed an accommodating spirit, which led him 
to exert himself for the entertainment of his friends. 
During the political canvass of 1834, Mr. Lincoln 
made the acquaintance of Mr. John T. Stuart of 
Springfield, 111. Mr. Stuart saw in the young man 
that which, if properly developed, could not fail to 
confer distinction on him. He therefore loaned 
Lincoln such law books as he needed, the latter 
often walking from New Salem to Springfield, a 
distance of twenty miles, to obtain them. It was 
very fortunate for Mr. Lincoln that he finally 
became associated with Mr. Stuart in the practice 
of law. He moved from New Salem to Springfield, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1837. 

On the 4th of November, 1842, Mr. Lincoln mar- 
ried Miss Mary Todd of Lexington, Ky., at the 
residence of Ninian W. Edwards of Springfield, 111. 
The fruits of this marriage were four sons : Robert 
T., born August 1, 1843; Edward Baker, March 10, 
1846, died February 1, 1850; William Wallace, 
December 21, 1850, died at the White House, 
Washington, February 20, 1862; Thomas, ("Tad"), 
April 4, 1853, died at the Clifton House, Chicago, 
111., July 15, 1871. Mrs. Lincoln died at the house 
of her sister, Springfield, July 16, 1882. 

In 1846 Mr. Lincoln was elected to Congress, as 
a Whig, his opponent being Peter Cartwright, who 
had defeated Mr. Lincoln for the Legislature in 1832. 

The most remarkable political canvass witnessed 
in the country took place between Mr. Lincoln 



PREFACE. xi 

and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858. They were can- 
didates of their respective parties for the United 
States Senate.V/Seven joint debates took place in 
different parts of the State. The Legislature being 
of Mr. Douglas' political faith, he was elected. 

In i860 Mr. Lincoln came before the country as 
the chosen candidate of the Republican party for 
the Presidency. The campaign was a memorable 
one, characterized by a novel organization called 
" Wide Awakes," which had its origin in Hartford, 
Conn. There were rail fence songs, rail-splitting 
on wagons in processions, and the building of 
fences by the torch-light marching clubs. 

The triumphant election of Mr. Lincoln took 
place in November, i860. On the nth of February, 
1861, he bade farewell to his neighbors, and as the 
train slowly left the depot his sad face was forever 
lost to the friends who gathered that morning to 
bid him God speed. The people along the route 
flocked at the stations to see him and hear his 
words. At all points he was greeted as the Presi- 
dent of the people, and such he proved to be. Mr. 
Lincoln reached Washington on the morning of the 
23d of February, and on the 4th of March was 
inaugurated President. Through four years of 
terrible war his guiding star was justice and mercy. 
He was sometimes censured by officers of the army 
for granting pardons to deserters and others, but 
he could not resist an appeal for the life of a soldier. 
He was the friend of the soldiers, and felt and acted 
toward them like a father. Even workingmen could 
write him letters of encouragement and receive 
appreciative words in reply. 



Xll PREFACE. 

When the immortal Proclamation of Emanci- 
pation was issued, the whole world applauded, and 
slavery received its death-blow. The terrible strain 
of anxiety and responsibility borne by Mr. Lincoln 
during the war had worn him away to a marked 
degree, but that God who was with him throughout 
the struggle permitted him to live, and by his mas- 
terly efforts and unceasing vigilance pilot the ship 
of state back into the haven of peace. 

On the 14th of April, 1865, after a day of unusual 
cheerfulness in those troublous times, and seeking 
relaxation from his cares, the President, accom- 
panied by his wife and a few intimate friends, went 
to Ford's Theater, on Tenth Street, N. W. There 
the foul assassin, J. Wilkes Booth, awaited his com- 
ing, and at twenty minutes past ten o'clock, just as 
the third act of " Our American Cousin " was about 
to commence, fired the shot that took the life of 
Abraham Lincoln. The bleeding President was 
carried to a house across the street, No. 516, where 
he died at twenty-two minutes past seven the next 
morning. The body was taken to the White House 
and, after lying in state in the East Room and at the 
Capitol, left Washington on the 21st of April, stop- 
ping at various places en route, and finally arriving 
at Springfield on the 3d of May. On the following 
day the funeral ceremonies took place at Oak Ridge 
Cemetery, and there the remains of the martyr were 
left at rest. 

Abraham Lincoln needs no marble shaft to per- 
petuate his name; his -words are the most enduring 
monument, and will forever live in the hearts of the 
people. 



PREFACE. xiii 

I was but a boy in the political campaign of i860, 
but had read a campaign life of "Abe" Lincoln, 
and became charmed with his remarkable, yet simple, 
life, and the possibilities of an American boy rising 
from such an humble birth to the candidacy for the 
Presidency of the United States. I took an active 
part in that campaign, and collected everything I 
could pertaining to Lincoln, little dreaming that the 
small beginning would amount to much. But when 
the assassin's bullet took the President's life, I deter- 
mined then to spare no efforts to extend the col- 
lection. I returned from the army in 1865, having 
served from 1861, and from that time to the present 
day have accumulated nearly three thousand Lin- 
colnian relics. 

I lived ten years with the collection in the Lin- 
coln Homestead, Springfield, 111., until it became 
necessary to remove it from that historic house in 
1893, when the Memorial Association of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia induced me to place it in the house 
in which the President died, that the two might be 
preserved together as a Lincoln Memorial. 

The building is rented from a private party, and 
the expense of keeping the house and collection 
open to the public is too great for one individual, or 
a small association, to bear. Hence my object in 
offering the "Words of Lincoln" to the American 
people is to give them an opportunity of preserving 
the historic place in which the martyred President's 
mortal career was closed. 

OSBORN H. Oldroyd. 

Washington, D. C, 1895. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The Memorial Association of the District of 
Columbia has been organized for the threefold pur- 
pose : 

i. Of preserving the most noteworthy houses at 
the Capital that had been made historic by the resi- 
dence of the nation's greatest men. 

2. Of suitably marking, by tablets or otherwise, 
the houses and places throughout the city of chief 
interest to our own residents and to the multitudes 
of Americans and foreigners that annually visit the 
Capital. 

3. Of thus cultivating that historic spirit and that 
reverence for the memories of the founders and 
leaders of the Republic upon which an intelligent 
and abiding patriotism so largely depends. 

It has first directed its efforts toward preserving 
the house, 516 Tenth Street, N. W., in which 
President Lincoln died. It leased the house to 
save it from demolition, placed in it the unique and 
valuable collection of relics gathered and owned by 
Captain O. H. Oldroyd, and has for nearly two 
years held the property as a museum. It is hoped 
and expected that Congress will purchase the house 
and preserve it in perpetuity. Meanwhile the asso- 
ciation and its friends have contributed largely to 

XV 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

pay current expenses. Now Captain Oldroyd very 
generously puts this volume at the service of this 
patriotic enterprise. It contains the choicest utter- 
ances of Mr. Lincoln, so arranged and identified by 
time and place as to be most convenient for refer- 
ence. We think it should find a wide welcome 
among the American people, to whom the memory 
of this great man is so precious. 

Melville W. Fuller, 

President. 
Teunis S. Hamlin, 

Vice President. 
Washington, D. C, 

April 2%, 1895. 



VALUE OF WORDS. 



" It is with words as with sunbeams — the more 
they are condensed, the deeper they burn." — 
Southey. 



" Learn the value of a man's words and expres- 
sions, and you know him. Each man has a measure 
of his own for everything. This he offers you, 
inadvertently, in his words." — Lavator. 



" Cast forth thy act, thy word, into the ever- 
living, ever-working universe ; it is a reed-grain that 
cannot die ; unnoticed to-day, it will be found flour- 
ishing as a banyan grove, perhaps, alas, as a hem- 
lock forest, after a thousand years." — Carlyle. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 



"I AM HUMBLE ABRAHAM LINCOLN." 

{First political speech, delivered at Poppsville, Sangamon 
Co., III., in iSj2.) 

" Gentlemen and fellow-citizens : I presume you 
all know who I am. I am humble Abraham 
Lincoln. I have been solicited by my 
many friends to become a candidate for the 
Legislature. My politics are short and sweet. I 
am in favor of a national bank. I am in favor of 
the internal improvement system and a high pro- 
tective tariff. These are my sentiments and politi- 
cal principles. If elected, I shall be thankful; if 
not, it will be all the same." 



EDUCATION THE MOST IMPORTANT 
SUBJECT TO THE PEOPLE. 

{Address at New Salem, III., March p, i8j2, when a candi- 
date/or the Legislature.) 

" Upon the subject of education, not presuming 
to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can 
only say that I view it as the most impor- 
tant subject which we, as a people, can be 
engaged in. 



2 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" That every man may receive at least a moderate 
education, and thereby be enabled to read the his- 
tories of his own and other countries, by which he 
may duly appreciate the value of our free institu- 
tions, appears to be an object of vital importance ; 
even' on this account alone, to say nothing of the 
advantages and satisfaction to be derived from all 
being able to read the Scriptures and other works, 
both of a religious and moral nature, for themselves. 
" For my part, I desire to see the time when edu- 
cation, by its means, morality, sobriety, enterprise, 
and integrity, shall become much more gen- 
1832 eral than at present, and should be grati- 
fied to have it in my power to contribute some- 
thing to the advancement of any measure which 
might have a tendency to accelerate the happy 

period. 

" Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. 
Whether it be true or not, I can say, for one, that I 
have no other so great as that of being truly es- 
teemed of my fellow-men. How far I shall succeed 
in gratifying this ambition is yet to be developed. 
I am young, and unknown to many of you. I was 
born, and have ever remained, in the most humble 
walks of life. I have no wealthy popular relations or 
friends to recommend me. My case is thrown exclu- 
sively upon the independent voters of the county; 
and, if elected, they will have conferred a favor 

On the day when the flag of thy love was to be again raised on 
Fort Sumter, where it had fiist been lowered, thou Wttt date. Not 
for a life unfinished do we mourn, though flww wast BOW girding 
thyself for the greater victories of peace. God saw the end. We 
did not.— Hairy E. Hutler. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 



upon me, for which I shall be unremitting in my 
labors to compensate. 

" But, if the good people in their wisdom shall 
see fit to keep me in the background, I have been 

1832 t0 ° familiar with disappointment to be very 
much chagrined." 



ANNOUNCES HIMSELF A CANDIDATE 
FOR THE LEGISLATURE. 

{Letter to the Sangamon Journal, Springfield, III., fune 
13, 1836) 

" I go for all sharing the privileges of the govern- 
ment who assist in bearing its burdens, consequently 

1836 l g ° for admittin g all whites to the right 
of suffrage who pay taxes or bear arms (by 
no means excluding females). 

" While acting as their representative I shall be 
governed by their will on all subjects upon which I 
have the means of knowing what their will is, and 
upon all others I shall do what my own judgment 
teaches me will best advance their interests, whether 
elected or not. 

" I go for distributing the proceeds of the sale of 
public lands to the several States, to enable our 
State, in common with others, to dig canals and 



When Abraham Lincoln issued the Proclamation of Freedom the 
light of morning rose, higher and higher went the sun, more and more 
the heavens were opened above us, and the Lord lifted up our Fourth 
of July into higher and yet higher glory, by giving us Gettysburg 
and Vicksburg at one blast of the trumpet.— William de Loss Love. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 



construct railroads without borrowing money and 
paying interest on it." 



PROTEST AGAINST DOMESTIC SLAVERY. 

{In the Illinois Legislature, March j, i8j7, in opposition to a 
resolution on the subject.) 

" They believe that the institution of slavery is 

founded on both injustice and bad policy ; but that 

g the promulgation of abolition doctrines 

tends rather to increase than abate its evils. 
" They believe that the Congress of the United 
States has no power, under the Constitution, to inter- 
fere with the institution of slavery in the different 
States. 

" They believe that the Congress of the United 
States has the power, under the Constitution, to 
abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, but that 
the power ought not to be exercised, unless at the 
request of the people of the District. 

" The difference between their opinions and those 
contained in the said resolutions is their reasons for 
entering this protest. 

[Signed] 

" Dan Stone, 
"A. Lincoln. 

" Representatives from Sangamon Co., 111." 

He fell as his thousands had fallen on the field of battle— sud- 
denly, and in the hour of victory. A man from among the people, 
a man who would have wept for the poorest drummer-boy of his 
great army ! — T. II. Robinson. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 



"PERPETUATION OF OUR FREE INSTI- 
TUTIONS." 

(An address delivered at the age of twenty-eight, Springfield, 
III., January, iSjy.) 

" In the great journal of things happening under 
the sun, we, the American people, find our account 
running under date of the nineteenth century 
of the Christian era. 

" We find ourselves in the peaceful possession of 
the fairest portion of the earth, as regards extent of 
territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate. 

"We find ourselves under the government of a 
system of political institutions conducing more 
essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty 
than any of which the history of former times tells us. 

" We, when mounting the stage of our existence, 
found ourselves the legal inheritors of these funda- 
mental blessings. 

" We toiled, not in the acquisition or establish- 
ment of them : they are a legacy bequeathed us by 
a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented 
and departed race of ancestors. 

" Theirs was the task (and nobly they performed 
it) to possess themselves, and, through themselves, 
us, of this goodly land, and to uprear upon its hills 
and valleys a political edifice of liberty and equal 

Coming generations will discover that what he called hesitation 
was wise discretion ; that amid our home and foreign complications 
any other policy would have led to inevitable ruin. — Adoniram J, 
Patterson. 



6 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

rights ; 'tis ours only to transmit these — the former 
unprofaned by the foot of an invader ; the latter 
undecoyed by the lapse of time and untorn by 
usurpation, to the latest generation that fate shall 
permit the world to know. 

" This task, gratitude to our fathers, justice to our- 
selves, duty to posterity — all imperatively 
37 require us faithfully to perform. 

" How, then, shall we perform it ? At what point 
shall we expect the approach of danger ? Shall we 
expect some transatlantic military giant to step the 
ocean and crush us at a blow? 

"Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and 
Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth 
(our own excepted) in their military chest, with 
a Bonaparte for a commander, could not, by 
force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a 
track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand 
years. 

" At what point, then, is the approach of danger 
to be expected? Answer: if it ever reaches us, it 
must spring up among us. 

" It cannot come from abroad. If destruction 
be our lot, we must ourselves be its author 
and finisher. As a nation of freeman, we must 
live through all time, or die by suicide." 



The Easter would have been celebrated as never before, amid 
spring blossoms of flowers. The air was fanned with jubilant flags, 
as the winter had passed and the time was nigh for the singing of 
bixdl. Commerce flapped her long-fokled wings, and the land 
would laugh with industry, plenty, and prosperity. In the twinkle 
of an eye we were brought down into the deepest affliction. — 
William Adams. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 7 

"I SWEAR ETERNAL FIDELITY TO THE 
JUST CAUSE." 

{Speech at Springfield, III,, during the Harrison Presidential 
campaign, 1840.) 

" Many free countries have lost their liberty, and 
ours may lose hers ; but if she shall, be it my 
proudest plume, not that I was last to desert, 
but that I never deserted, her. 

" I know that the great volcano at Washington, 
aroused and directed by the evil spirit that reigns 
there, is belching forth the lava of political corrup- 
tion in a current broad and deep, which is sweeping 
with frightful velocity over the whole length and 
breadth of the land, bidding fair to leave unscathed 
no green spot or living thing. 

" I cannot deny that all may be swept away. 
Broken by it, I, too, may be ; bow to it I never 
will. The possibility that we may fail in the 
struggle ought not to deter us from the support of 
a cause which we believe to be just. It shall not 
deter me. 

" If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and 
expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of 
its Almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate 
the cause of my country, deserted by all the world 
beside, and I standing up boldly, alone, and hurling 
defiance at her victorious oppressors. 



He surpassed all orators in eloquence, all diplomatists in wisdom, 
all statesmen in foresight, and the most ambitious in fame. — John J. 
Ingalls. 



8 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" Here, without contemplating consequences, be- 
fore Heaven, and in the face of the world, I swear 
eternal fidelity to the just cause, as I deem it, of 
the land of my life, my liberty, and my love ; and 
who that thinks with me will not fearlessly adopt 
the oath that I take ? 

" Let none falter who thinks he is right, and we 
may succeed. 

" But if, after all, we shall fail, be it so, we still 
have the proud consolation of saying to our con- 
sciences, and to the departed shade of our 
country's freedom, that the cause approved 
of our judgment, and adorned of our hearts in 
disaster, in chains, in death, we never faltered in 
defending." 



THE TEMPERANCE CAUSE. 

{Address before the Washingtonian Temperance Society, 
Springfield, III., February 22, 1S42.) 

" The cause itself seems suddenly transformed 
from a cold abstract theory to a living, breathing, 
active, and powerful chieftain going forth 
1 conquering and to conquer.' The citadels 
of his great adversary are daily being stormed and 
dismantled ; his temples and his altars, where the 
rites of his idolatrous worship have long been per- 
formed, and where human sacrifices have long been 
wont to be made, are daily desecrated and deserted. 

It appears to thoughtful minds that Cod called Abraham Lincoln 
to rise from the log cabin in the wilderness to take the helm of the 
new American nation in its crisis hour. — C. A. Payne. 







"*"£??• & 



M * 







A. LIXCOLN. 
From a sketch at the age oj thirty-five. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 9 

" The trump of the conqueror's fame is sounding 
from hill to hill, from sea to sea, and from land to 
land, and calling millions to his standard at a blast. 

" When one who has long been known as a vic- 
tim of intemperance bursts the fetters that have 
bound him, and appears before his neigh- 
bors ' clothed and in his right mind,' a 
redeemed specimen of long-lost humanity, and 
stands up, with tears of joy trembling in his eyes, 
to tell of the miseries once endured, now to be 
endured no more forever ; of his once naked and 
starving children, now clad and fed comfortably ; of 
a wife, long weighed down with woe, weeping, and 
a broken heart, now restored to health, happiness, 
and a renewed affection ; and how easily it is all 
done, once it is resolved to be done — how simple 
his language ! There is a logic and an eloquence in 
it that few with human feelings can resist. 

" It is an old and true maxim ' that a drop of 
honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.' So 
with men. If you would win a man to your cause, 
first convince him that you are his sincere friend. 
Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart ; 
which, say what he will, is the great highroad to 
his reason, and when once gained, you will find but 
little trouble in convincing his judgment of the jus- 
tice of your cause, if, indeed, that cause really be a 
just one. 

" On the contrary, assume to dictate to his judg- 
ment, or to command his action, or to mark him as 

Mr. Lincoln's history will be " of all time," and he will be 
recalled as one of the grandest figures of the world's history. — 
Winjield S. Hancock. 



IO WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

one to be shunned and despised, and he will retreat 
within himself, close all the avenues to his head and 
his heart, and though your cause be naked truth 
itself, transformed to the heaviest lance, harder 
than steel and sharper than steel can be made, and 
though you throw it with more than herculean 
force and precision, you shall be no more able to 
pierce him than to penetrate the hard shell of a 
tortoise with a rye straw. 

" Of our political revolution of 'j6 we are all 
justly proud. It has given us a degree of political 
freedom far exceeding that of any other 
nation of the earth. But, with all these 
glorious results, past, present, and to come, it had 
its evils, too. It breathed forth famine, swam in 
blood, and rode in fire; and long, long after, the 
orphans' cry and the widows' wail continued to 
break the sad silence that ensued. These were the 
price, the inevitable price, paid for the bless- 
ings it brought. 

" Turn now to the temperance resolution. In it 
we shall find a stronger bondage broken, a viler 
slavery manumitted, a greater tyrant deposed — in 
it, more of want supplied, more disease healed, 
more sorrow assuaged. By it, no orphans starving, 
no widows weeping. By it, none wounded in feel- 
ing, none injured in interest; even the dram-maker 
and dram-seller will have glided into other occupa- 
tions so gradually as never to have felt the change, 

His career closed at a moment when its dramatic unity was com- 
plete, and when his departure from life on earth was the apotheosis, 
the translation by which, defended Against all ihockl and mishaps of 
time, he passed on to immortality. — -John A. Andrew, 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. II 

and will stand ready to join all others in the univer- 
sal song of gladness. 

" And what a noble ally this, to the cause of po- 
litical freedom ; with such an aid, its march cannot 
fail to be on and on, till every son of earth shall 
drink in rich fruition the sorrow-quenching draughts 
of perfect liberty ! 

" Happy day, when, all appetite controlled, all 
passions subdued, all matter subjugated, mind — all- 
conquering mind — shall live and move, the 
monarch of the world ! Glorious consum- 
mation ! Hail, fall of fury ! Reign of reason, all 
hail! 

" And when the victory shall be complete, — when 
there shall be neither a slave nor a drunkard on 
earth, — how proud the title of that land, which may 
truly claim to be the birthplace and the cradle of 
both those resolutions that shall have ended in that 
victory ! How nobly distinguished that people, 
who shall have planted, and nurtured to matur- 
ity, both the political and moral freedom of their 
species ! 

" This is the one hundred and tenth anniversary 
of the birthday of Washington — we are met to cele- 
brate this day. 

" Washington is the mightiest name on earth — 
long since mightiest in the cause of civil liberty, 
still mightiest in moral reformation. 

" On that name a eulogy is expected. It cannot 

He had learned from the holiest authority that God "hath made 
of one blood all nations of men," and that the immutable rule of 
right, as between man and man, is to do unto others as we would 
that they should do unto vs.— Joseph A . Seiss. 



12 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

be. To add brightness to the sun, or glory to the 
name of Washington, is alike impossible. Let none 
attempt it. 

" In solemn awe pronounce the name, and in its 
naked, deathless splendor, leave it shining on." 



MESSAGE TO HIS DYING FATHER. 

{Letter to his brother-in-law, John Johnson, 
January 12, iSji.) 

" I sincerely hope father may yet recover his 
health ; but, at all events, tell him to remember to 
call upon and confide in our great and good 
and merciful Maker, who will not turn away 
from him in any extremity. He notes the fall of a 
sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our heads; and 
He will not forget the dying man who puts his 
trust in Him. 

" Say to him, if we could meet now it is doubtful 
whether it would not be more painful than pleasant; 
but that, if it be his lot to go now, he will soon have 
a joyous meeting with loved ones gone before, and 
where the rest of us, through the help of God, 
hope ere long to join them." 



Lincoln's deeds will live in the household words of an elevated 
race. First in the huts where the children are taught to speak his 
praise. Hereafter, the children of those children, in mansions built 
by their OWTJ skill, will weave his name in poetry, ami, in rich music 
of their own, sing their praise of their great deliverer. — J. C. 

Bingham, 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 3 

REDEMPTION OF THE AFRICAN RACE. 

(Eulogy on the life and character of Henry Clay, Springfield, 
III., July 16, 1852.) 

" This suggestion of the possible ultimate re- 
demption of the African race and African continent 
was made twenty-five years ago. Every 
succeeding year has added strength to the 
hope of its realization. May it indeed be realized ! 
Pharaoh's country was cursed with plagues, and his 
hosts drowned in the Red Sea for striving to retain 
a captive people who had already served them more 
than four hundred years. May like disaster never 
befall us ! 

" If, as the friends of colonization hope, the pres- 
ent and coming generations of our countrymen 
shall, by any means, succeed in freeing our land 
from the dangerous presence of slavery, and at 
the same time restoring a captive people to their 
long-lost fatherland, with bright prospects for 
the future, and this, too, so gradually that neither 
races nor individuals shall have suffered by the 
change, it will, indeed, be a glorious consummation. 

" And if to such a consummation the efforts of 
Mr. Clay shall have contributed, it will be what he 
most ardently wished ; and none of his labors will 
have been more valuable to his country and his 
kind." 

He was not carried away by the excitement by which he was sur- 
rounded. He possessed in a remarkable degree not only self-control, 
but sound common sense, which is often worth far more than bril- 
liant talents and great learning. — JV. L. Rice. 



14 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

THE INJUSTICE OF SLAVERY. 

{Speech at Peoria, III., October 16, 1S54.) 

" This declared indifference, but, as I must think, 
covert zeal, for the spread of slavery, I cannot but 
hate. I hate it because of the monstrous 
injustice of slavery itself ; I hate it because 
it deprives our republic of an example of its just 
influence in the world; enables the enemies of free 
institutions with plausibility to taunt us as hyp- 
ocrites ; causes the real friends of freedom to doubt 
our sincerity ; and, especially, because it forces so 
many really good men among ourselves into an 
open war with the very fundamental principles of 
civil liberty, criticising the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence and insisting that there is no right prin- 
ciple of action but self-interest. 

" The doctrine of self-government is right, — abso- 
lutely and eternally right, — but it has no just appli- 
cation, as here attempted. Or, perhaps, I should 
rather say, that whether it has such just application 
depends upon whether a negro is not, or is, a man. 
If he is not a man, in that case he who is a man may, 
as a matter of self-government, do just what he 
pleases with him. But if the negro is a man, is it 
not to that extent a total destruction of self-govern- 
ment to say that he, too, shall not govern himself ? 

"When the white man governs himself that is 

Having determined upon the profession of law, he fenced in his 
mind to book study with the same energy and resolution with which 
he had split three thousand rails to fence in the field around his 
father's home. — Joufh J'. Tho mpi on, 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 5 

self-government ; but when he governs himself, and 
also governs another man, that is more than self- 
government — that is despotism. 

" What I do say is, that no man is good enough 
to govern another man without that other's consent. 

" The master not only governs the slave without 
his consent, but he governs him by a set of rules 
altogether different from those which he 
prescribes for himself. Allow all the gov- 
erned an equal voice in the government ; that, and 
that only, is self-government. 

" Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man's 
nature — opposition to it, in his love of justice. 
These principles are an eternal antagonism ; and 
when brought into collision so fiercely as slavery 
extension brings them, shocks and throes and con- 
vulsions must ceaselessly follow. 

" Repeal the Missouri Compromise — repeal all 
compromise — and repeal the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence — repeal all past history — still you cannot 
repeal human nature. 

" I particularly object to the new position which 
the avowed principles of the Nebraska law gives to 
slavery in the body politic. I object to it, because 
it assumes that there can be moral right in the 
enslaving of one man by another. I object to it as 
a dangerous dalliance for a free people, — a sad evi- 
dence that feeling prosperity, we forget right, — that 
liberty as a principle we have ceased to revere. 

"With malice toward none" was his dying charge. It sounds 
strangely like the last words of Him who, when dying on the cross, 
looked down upon his murderers and prayed : " Father, forgive 
them, they know not what they do." — Daniel C. Eddy. 



l6 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" Little by little, but steadily as man's march to 
the grave, we have been giving up the old for the 
new faith. Near eighty years ago we began 
by declaring that all men are created equal ; 
but now from that beginning we have run down to 
the other declaration that for some men to enslave 
others is a ' sacred right of self-government.' These 
principles cannot stand together. They are as 
opposite as God and Mammon. 

" Our republican robe is soiled and trailed in the 
dust. Let us purify it. Let us turn and wash it 
white, in the spirit, if not in the blood, of the Revo- 
lution. 

" Let us turn slavery from its claims of ' moral 
right ' back upon its existing legal rights, and its 
arguments of ' necessity.' Let us return it to the 
position our fathers gave it, and there let it rest in 
peace. 

" Let us re-adopt the Declaration of Independence, 
and the practices and policy which harmonize with 
it. Let North and South — let all Americans — let 
all lovers of liberty everywhere, join in the great 
and good work. 

" If we do this, we shall not only have saved the 
Union, but shall have so saved it, as to make and to 
keep it forever worthy of saving. We shall have so 
saved it that the succeeding millions of free, happy 
people, the world over, shall rise up and call us 
blessed to the latest generations." 

Fostered and stimulated only by the genius of that government 
under which he lived, he attained by his own efforts to such a stately 
height that the nation caught him up as the tallest of her children, 
and lifted him to her head. — John C. Thompson. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 17 

"THE ONE RETROGRADE INSTITUTION 
IN AMERICA." 

{Reply to Stephen A. Douglas, on the Kansas and Nebraska 
Bill, Springfield, III., October 4, 1854.) 

" Be not deceived. The spirit of the Revolution 
and the spirit of Nebraska are antipodes ; and the 
former is being rapidly displaced by the 
latter. Shall we make no effort to arrest 
this? Already the liberal party throughout the 
world express the apprehension ' that the one 
retrograde institution in America is undermining 
the principles of progress, and fatally violating the 
noblest political system the world ever saw.' This 
is not the taunt of enemies, but the warning of 
friends. Is it quite safe to disregard it — to dis- 
parage it? Is there no danger to liberty itself in 
discarding the earliest practice, and first precept of 
our ancient faith ? 

" In our greedy haste to make profit of the negro, 
let us beware lest we cancel and rend in pieces even 
the white man's character of freedom. 

" My distinguished friend, Douglas, says it is an 
insult to the emigrant to Kansas and Nebraska to 
suppose they are not able to govern themselves. 
We must not slur over an argument of this kind 
because it happens to tickle the ear. It must be 
met and answered. 

A poor, plain, simple, honest, laborious, American life, with learn- 
ing drained chiefly from nature, made him healthy, strong, self-reli- 
ant, calm, true, honest, brave, diligent, and developed all the true 
manlier qualities. — Charles M. Ellis. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 



" I admit the emigrant to Kansas and Nebraska 
is competent to govern himself, but, I deny his right 
to govern any other person without that persons 
consent" 



HOPELESS PEACEFUL EMANCIPATION 
OF THE SLAVE. 

{Letter to Hon. Geo. Robertson* Lexington, Ky., 
August ij, iSjj.) 

u So far as peaceful voluntary emancipation is 
concerned, the condition of the negro slave in 
America, scarcely less terrible to the con- 
templation of a free mind, is now as fixed 
and hopeless of change for the better as that of the 
lost souls of the finally impenitent. 

" The Autocrat of all the Russias will resign his 
crown, and proclaim his subjects free republicans, 
sooner than will our American masters voluntarily 
give up their slaves. 

" Our political problem now is, Can we as a 
nation continue together permanently — forever — 
half slave and half free ? The problem is too 
mighty for me. May God in his mercy superin- 
tend the solution!" 

* " Abraham Lincoln — A History," Nicolay and Hay, 1890. 



He grasped the reins for that perilous career on which he had been 
driven, and, to the admiration of the world, he held them till the 
assassin's bullet struck them loose, just as he was wheeling the nation 
through the gates of victory into the morning light of peace. — Janus 
A. McCauley. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 19 



"ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL." 

{Speech at the Republican banquet, Chicago, III., December 
10, 1856, after the Presidential campaign?) 

" Our government rests in public opinion. Who- 
ever can change public opinion can change the 
government practically just so much. Public 
opinion, on any subject, always has a ' cen- 
tral idea,' from which all its minor thoughts radiate. 
That ' central idea ' in our political public opinion 
at the beginning was, and until recently has con- 
tinued to be, ' the equality of man.' And although 
it has always submitted patiently to whatever of 
inequality there seemed to be as matter of actual 
necessity, its constant working has been a steady 
progress toward the practical equality of all men. 

" Let everyone who really believes, and is re- 
solved, that free society is not and shall not be a 
failure, and who can conscientiously declare that in 
the past contest he has done only what he thought 
best, let every such one have charity to believe that 
every other one can say as much. 

" Thus let bygones be bygones ; let party differ- 
ences as nothing be ; and with steady eye on the 
real issue, let us reinaugurate the good old ' central 
ideas ' of the republic. We can do it. The human 
heart is with us ; God is with us. 

The four years of Mr. Lincoln's administrative life have put upon 
American annals a record of events, wrought out under his super- 
vision, which are unrivaled in the brilliancy of their character and 
results by any that have appeared upon the historic page.— ~James M. 
Ludlow. 



20 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" We shall again be able not to declare that ' all 

States as States are equal,' nor yet that ' all citizens 

as citizens are equal,' but to renew the 

broader, better declaration, including both 

these and much more, that ' all men are created 

equal.' " 



SPEECH ON THE DRED SCOTT DECISION. 

{Delivered at Springfield, III. , June 26, 1857.) 

" The Chief Justice does not directly assert, but 
plainly assumes as a fact, that the public estimate 
of the black man is more favorable now 
than it was in the days of the Revolution. 

" In those days, by common consent, the spread 
of the black man's bondage to the new countries 
was prohibited ; but now Congress decides that it 
will not continue the prohibition, and the Supreme 
Court decides that it could not if it would. 

" In those days, our Declaration of Independence 
was held sacred by all, and thought to include 
all ; but now, to aid in making the bondage of the 
negro universal and eternal, it is assailed and 
sneered at, and constructed and hawked at, and 
torn, till, if its framers could rise from their graves, 
they could not at all recognize it. 

" All the powers of earth seem rapidly combining 
against him ; Mammon is after him, ambition fol- 
lows, philosophy follows, and the theology of the 

He showed himself more and more equal to duty as year after 
year laid on him ever fresh burdens. God-given and God-led and 
sustained, we must ever believe him. — Wendell Phillips. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 21 

day is fast joining the cry. They have him in his 
prison house, they have searched his person and 
left no prying instrument with him. One after 
another they have closed the heavy iron doors upon 
him; and now they have him, as it were, bolted in 
with a lock of a hundred keys, which can never be 
unlocked without the concurrence of every key; 
the keys in the hands of a hundred different men, 
and they scattered to a hundred different and dis- 
tant places, and they stand musing as to what in- 
vention, in all the dominions of mind and matter, 
can be produced to make the impossibility of his 
escape more complete than it is." 



"A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF 
CANNOT STAND." 

( The following speech — afterward severely criticised by many 
of the author's own friends — was delivered by Mr. Lin- 
coln at Springfield, III., June 17, 1838, at the close of the 
Republican State Convention, which nominated him for 
the United States Senate.) 

" If we could first know where we are, and whither 

we are tending, we could better judge what to do 

and how to do it. We are now far into 

the fifth year since a policy was initiated 

with the avowed object, and confident promise, of 



He had been vigilant, untiring, zealous only for his country and 
the rights and liberties of his countrymen, and their children and 
children's children to the latest generation. — Sidney Dean. 



22 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the 
operation of that policy that agitation has not only 
not ceased, but has constantly augmented. 

" In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis 
shall have been reached and passed. 

"'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' 
I believe this government cannot endure perma- 
nently half slave and half free. I do not 

jfteg J 

expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not 
expect the house to fall ; but I do expect it will 
cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, 
or all the other. 

" Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the 
further spread of it, and place it where the public 
mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course 
of ultimate extinction ; or its advocates will push 
it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all 
the States — old as well as new, North as well as 
South. 

" Our cause, then, must be intrusted to, and con- 
ducted by, its own undoubted friends — those whose 
hands are free, whose hearts are in the work — who 
do care for the result. 

" The result is not doubtful. We shall not fail — 
if we stand firm, we shall not fail. Wise counsels 
may accelerate, or mistakes delay it, but, sooner, or 
later, the victory is sure to come." 



That plain, pood man, who, with life's parting tone, 
Breathed charity for all, and malice toward none, 
So kind, so truthful, modest, and sincere, 
Prompt to forgive the injury and the sneer. 

— Isaac McLcllan. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 23 

THE ELECTRIC CORD IN THE DECLARA- 
TION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

{Reply to Senator Douglas, Chicago, III., July 10, 1S5S.) 

" ' We holds these truths to be self-evident, that 
all men are created equal; that they are endowed 
by their Creator with certain inalienable 
rights ; that among these are life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these 
rights, governments are instituted among men, 
deriving their just powers from the consent of the 
governed.' There is the origin of Popular Sov- 
ereignty. Who, then, shall come in at this day and 
claim that he invented it ? 

" I am not master of language; I have not a fine 
education ; I am not capable of entering into a 
disquistion upon dialectics, as I believe you call it ; 
but I do not believe the language I employed bears 
any such construction as Judge Douglas puts upon 
it. I have said a hundred times, and I have now 
no inclination to take it back, that I believe there is 
no right, and ought to be no inclination, in the peo- 
ple of the free States to enter into the slave States 
and interefere with the question of slavery at all. 

"We find a race of men living in that day whom 
we claim as our fathers and grandfathers; they 
were iron men ; they fought for the principle that 
they were contending for; and we understood that 
by what they then did it has followed that the 

His wisdom, his accurate perceptions, his vigor of intellect, his 
humor and his unselfish patriotism, endeared him to the people. — 
Cyrus Northrop. 



24 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

degree of prosperity which we now enjoy has come 
to us. 

"We hold this annual celebration (4th of July) 
to remind ourselves of all the good done in this 
process of time, of how it was done, and 
who did it, and how we are historically con- 
nected with it; and we go from these meetings in 
better humor with ourselves — we feel more attached 
the one to the other, and more firmly bound to the 
country we inhabit. 

" In every way we are better men in the age, and 
race, and country in which we live, for these cele- 
brations. But after we have done all of this we 
have not yet reached the whole. There is some- 
thing else connected with it. 

" We have besides these, men — descended by 
blood from our ancestors — among us, perhaps half 
our people, who are not descendants at all of these 
men ; they are men who have come from Europe — 
German, Irish, French, and Scandinavian — men that 
have come from Europe themselves, or whose an- 
cestors have come hither and settled here, finding 
themselves our equals in all things. 

" If they look back through this history to trace 
their connection with those days by blood, they 
find they have none — they cannot carry them- 
selves back into that glorious epoch and make 
themselves feel that they are part of us. But 
when they look through that old Declaration of 

Never, amid the utmost fury of the storm that was beating around 
him, did his composure desert him ; he had his work to do, and lie 
meant to doit. His cheerfulness relieved the burden of duty and 
the gloom of his friends.— Edward C. Slater. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 2$ 

Independence, they find that those old men say 
that 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 
all men are created equal,' and then they feel that 
that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences 
their relation to those men ; that it is the father of 
all moral principal in them, and that they have a 
right to claim it as though they were blood of the 
blood, and flesh of the flesh, of the men who wrote 
that Declaration ; and so they are. 

" That is the electric cord in the Declaration that 
links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men 
together; that will link those patriotic hearts as 
long as the love of freedom exists in the mind of 
men throughout the world. 

" My friend has said to me that I am a poor hand 
to quote Scripture ; I will try it again, however. It is 
said in one of the admonitions of our Lord, 
'As your Father in heaven is perfect, be ye 
also perfect.' The Saviour, I suppose, did not expect 
that any human creature could be perfect as the 
Father in heaven ; but he said, ' As your Father 
in heaven is perfect, be ye also perfect.' He set 
that up as a standard, and he who did most toward 
reaching that standard, attained the highest degree 
of moral perfection. 

" So I say in relation to the principle that all men 
are created equal, let it be as nearly reached as we 
can. If we cannot give freedom to every creature, 

No other President of this nation had been subjected to a trial such 
as his. He was a man lost in a wilderness, where there was no 
visible road for escape, and we complained of him because he tried 
honestly to make the best road he could to get out at all. — R. J. 
Keeling. 



26 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

let us do nothing that will impose slavery upon any 
other creature. 

" I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty 
will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer 
be a doubt that all men are created free and equal." 



DISADVANTAGES THE REPUBLICANS 
LABOR UNDER. 

{Speech at Springfield, III., July iy, /SjS.) 

" Senator Douglas is of world-wide renown. All 
the anxious politicians of his party, or who have 
been of his party for years past, have been 
looking upon him as certainly, at no distant 
day, to be the President of the United States. 
They have seen in his round, jolly, fruitful face, 
post offices, land offices, marshalships, and cabinet 
appointments, chargcships, and foreign missions, 
bursting and sprouting out in wonderful exuberance, 
ready to be laid hold of by their greedy hands. 

"And as they have been gazing upon this attract- 
ive picture so long, they cannot, in the little dis- 
traction that has taken place in the party, bring 
themselves to give up the charming hope ; but with 
greedier anxiety they rush about him, sustain him, 
and give him marches, triumphal entries, and recep- 
tions beyond what, even in the days of his highest 
prosperty, they could have brought about in his 
favor. 

" On the contrary, nobody has ever expected me 



May his kindly words ever re-echo in our hearts, and incite us to 

godliness ami truth. — S. Mo>,ii.-. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 27 

to be President. In my poor, lean, lank face, no- 
body has ever seen that any cabbages were 
sprouting out. These are disadvantages, all 
taken together, that the Republicans labor under. 
We have to fight this battle upon principle, and 
upon principle alone. 

" I am, in a certain sense, made the standard- 
bearer in behalf of the Republicans. I was made so 
merely because there had to be someone so placed, 
I being no wise preferable to any other one of the 
twenty-five — perhaps a hundred — we have in the 
Republican ranks. 

" Then, I say I wish it to be distinctly understood 
and borne in mind that we have to fight this battle 
without many — perhaps without any — of the ex- 
ternal aids which are brought to bear against us. 
So I hope those with whom I am surrounded have 
principle enough to nerve themselves for the task, 
and leave nothing undone that can be fairly done, 
to bring about the right result." 



"THIS NATION CANNOT LIVE ON 
INJUSTICE." 

{Remarks defending his speech, June 17 : "A House Divided 
Against Itself" etc.) 

" Friends, I have thought about this matter a 

great deal, have weighed the question well from all 

corners, and am thoroughly convinced the 

jgrg ° J 

time has come when it should be uttered ; 
He was a spotless apostle of human liberty. — Parke Godwin. 



28 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

and if it must be that I must go down because of 
this speech, then let me go down linked to truth, — 
die in the advocacy of what is right and just. 

"This nation cannot live on injustice. 'A house 
divided against itself cannot stand,' I say again and 
again." 



WOULD LEAVE IT TO THE WORLD 
UNERASED. 

When Dr. Long said to his friend, " Well, Lincoln, 
that foolish speech will kill you — will defeat you 
for all offices for all time to come," referring to the 
" House Divided " speech, Mr. Lincoln replied: 

"If I had to draw a pen across and erase my 

whole life from existence, and I had one poor gift 

or choice left, as to what I should save from 

the wreck, I should choose that speech, and 

leave it to the world unerased." 



"WISEST THING I EVER DID." 

(Reply to friends at Bloomington, III., in regard to the 
"House Divided" speech?) 

" You may think that speech was a mistake ; but I 
never have believed it was, and you will see the day 
when you will consider it the wisest thing 
1 ever did. 

He was too good a man himself to be very suspicious of others, and 
he was too much engrossed in his cares for his country to have much 
thought for his personal safety. — Thomas Chase. 




. lit Si: I . 



A. LINCOLN. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 29 

LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS JOINT 
DEBATE. 

{First joint debate, Ottawa, III., August 21, iSjS.) 

" I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to in- 
terfere with the institution of slavery in the State 
where it exists. I believe I have no law- 

rSj*B 

ful right to do so, and I have no inclination 
do so. I agree with Judge Douglas: he [the negro] 
is not my equal in many respects — certainly not 
in color; perhaps not in moral or intellectual en- 
dowment. But in the right to eat the bread — 
without the leave of anybody else — which his 
own hand earns, he is my equal, and the equal of 
Judge Douglas, and the equal of every living man. 

" 1 think, and shall try to show, that it is wrong, 
wrong in its direct effect, letting slavery into Kansas 
and Nebraska — and wrong in its prospective prin- 
ciple, allowing it to spread to every other part 
of the wide world, where men can be found 
inclined to take it. 

" I have no prejudice against the Southern peo- 
ple. They are just what we would be in their 
situation. If slavery did not now exist among 
them, they would not introduce it. If it did now 
exist among us, we should not instantly give it up. 
This I believe of the masses North and South. 
Doubtless there are individuals on both sides who 



High above his obelisk a new star to which history will point as 
the symbol of loyalty to God, to moral ideas, and to humanity. — 
N*wton Bateman. 



30 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

would not hold slaves under any circumstances ; and 
others who would gladly introduce slavery anew, if 
it were out of existence. 

"When Southern people tell us they are no more 
responsible for the origin of slavery than we, I ac- 
knowledge the fact. When it is said that 

jgrg & 

the institution exists, and that it is very 
difficult to get rid of it in any satisfactory way, I 
can understand and appreciate the saying. I surely 
will not blame them for not doing what I should 
not know how to do myself. If all earthly power 
were given me, I should not know what to do, as to 
the existing institution. 

" With public sentiment, nothing can fail ; with- 
out it, nothing can succeed. Consequently, he who 
molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who 
enacts statutes or pronounces decisions. He makes 
statutes and decisions possible or impossible to be 
executed." 



{Second joint debate, Freeport, III., August 27, 1S5S.) 

Answers to the seven questions propounded by 

Mr. Douglas: 

" I do not now, nor ever did, stand in favor of 

the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive 
1858 c , T r 

Slave Law. 

" I do not now, nor ever did, stand pledged against 

the admission of any more slave States into the 

Union. 

In Mr. Lincoln's history there is as much profound stimulus to the 
young men of the country who desire to secure it, as in that of any 

man who has figured in our annals. — A. II. GarLuiJ. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 3 1 

" I do not stand pledged against the admission of 
a new State into the Union, with such a constitu- 
tion as the people of that State may see fit to make. 

" I do not stand to-day pledged to the abolition 
of slavery in the District of Columbia. 

" I do not stand pledged to the prohibition of 
the slave trade between the different States. 

" I am impliedly, if not expressly, pledged to a 
belief in the right and duty of Congress to prohibit 
slavery in all the United States Territories. 

" I am not generally opposed to honest acquisi- 
tion of territory ; and, in any given case, I would 
or would not oppose such acquisition, ac- 
cordingly, as I might think such acquisition 
would or would not aggravate the slavery question 
among ourselves." 



{Third joint debate, Jonesboro, III., September fj, iSjS.) 

" I say, in the way our fathers originally left the 
slavery question, the institution was in the course 
of ultimate extinction, and the public mind 
rested in the belief that it was in the course 
of ultimate extinction. I say, when this Govern- 
ment was first established, it was the policy of its 
founders to prohibit the spread of slavery into the 
new Territories of the United States, where it had 
not existed. 

" All I have asked or desired anywhere, is that 
it should be placed back again upon the basis 

We seem to have agreed to place him upon a pedestal where no 
other feet shall ever be suffered to stand — an altitude of worth and 
greatness where none may approach and rival him. — Wm. Irvin. 



32 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

that the fathers of our Government originally 
placed it upon. I have no doubt that it would 
become extinct for all time to come, if we but 
re-adopt the policy of the fathers by restricting it 
to the limits it has already covered — restricting it 
from the new Territories." 



{Fourth joint debate, Charleston, III., September 18, iSjS.) 

" I have always wanted to deal with everyone I 

meet candidly and honestly. If I have made any 

assertion not warranted by facts, and it is 

jgcg J 

pointed out to me, I will withdraw it 
cheerfully. 

" The Nebraska-Kansas bill was introduced four 
years and a half ago, and if the agitation is ever 
to come to an end, we may say we are four years 
and a half nearer the end. So, too, we can say 
we are four years and a half nearer the end of the 
world ; and we can just as clearly see the end of 
the world as we can see the end of this agitation. 

"If Kansas should sink to-day, and leave a great 
vacant space in the earth's surface, this vexed ques- 
tion would still be among us. I say, then, there is 
no way of putting an end to the slavery agitation 
amongst us but to put it back upon the basis where 
our fathers placed it, no way but to keep it out of 
our new Territories — to restrict it forever to the old 
States where it now exists. Then the public mind 

All the blood of four hundred thousand lives has not been grieved 
for so much as that which has trickled from a single wound. — 
Trtadwell WalJen. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 33 

will rest in the belief that it is in the course of ulti- 
mate extinction." 



{Fifth joint debate, Galesburg, III., October 7, iSjS.) 

" And now it only remains for me to say that I 

think it is a very grave question for the people of 

this Union to consider whether, in view of 
18^8 

the fact that this slavery question has been 

the only one that has ever endangered our repub- 
lican institutions — the only one that has ever threat- 
ened or menaced a dissolution of the Union, that 
has ever disturbed us in such a way as to make us 
fear for the perpetuity of our liberty — in view of 
these facts, I think it is an exceedingly interesting 
and important question for this people to consider — 
whether we shall engage in the policy of acquiring 
additional territory, discarding altogether from our 
consideration while obtaining new territory, the 
question how it may affect us in regard to this, the 
only endangering, element to our liberties and 
national greatness." 



(Sixth joint debate, Quincy, III, October 13, iSjS.) 

" We have in this nation this element of domestic 

slavery. It is the opinion of all the great men who 

have expressed an opinion upon it, that it 

is a dangerous element. We keep up a 

controversy in regard to it. That controversy 

Who of us thought, on the morning of April 14, as we grasped the 
cup of thanksgiving, that it would soon be dashed from us, and the 
wine of bitterness pressed to our lips ? — Herrick Johnson. 



34 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

necessarily springs from differences of opinion, and 
if we can learn exactly — can reduce to the lowest 
elements — what that difference of opinion is, we 
perhaps shall be better prepared for discussing the 
different systems of policy that we would propose 
in regard to that disturbing element. 

" I suggest that the difference of opinion, reduced 

to its lowest terms, is no other than the difference 

between the men who think slavery a 

jgrQ * 

wrong and those who do not think it wrong. 

" We think it is a wrong not confining itself 
merely to the persons or the States where it exists, 
but that it is a wrong in its tendency, to say the 
least, that extends itself to the existence of the 
whole nation. 

" Because we think it wrong, we propose a course 
of policy that shall deal with it as a wrong. We 
deal with it as with any other wrong, in so far as we 
can prevent its growing any larger, and so deal with 
it that, in the run of time, there may be some 
promise of an end to it." 



{Seventh and last joint debate, Alton, III., October /j, /SjS.) 

" It may be argued that there are certain condi- 
tions that make necessities and impose them upon 

us, and to the extent that a necessity is 
1858 . , . ... 

imposed upon a man he must submit to it. 

I think that was the condition in which we found 

ourselves when we established this government. 

Abraham Lincoln was the greatest president that ever occupied the 
executive chair, and the best story teller ever known to a free people. 
— Hug h J. Ha j tings. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 35 

" We had slaves among us ; we could not get our 
constitution unless we permitted them to remain in 
slavery ; we could not secure the good we did se- 
cure if we grasped for more ; and having by neces- 
sity submitted to that much, it does not destroy 
the principle that is the charter of our liberties. 
Let the charter remain as a standard. 

" I think the authors of that notable instrument 
intended to include all men, but they did not mean 
to declare all men equal in all respects. 

" They defined with tolerable distinctness in what 
they did consider all men created equal : equal in 
certain inalienable rights, among which are life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This they 
said, and this they meant. They did not mean to 
assert the obvious untruth, that all men were then 
actually enjoying that quality, or yet that they 
were about to confer it immediately upon them. 
In fact, they had no power to confer such a boon. 
They meant simply to declare the right, so that the 
enforcement of it might follow as fast as circum- 
stances should permit. 

" They meant to set up a standard maxim for 
free society, which should be familiar to all, con- 
stantly looked to, constantly labored for, 
and even though never perfectly attained, 
constantly approximated, and thereby constantly 
spreading and deepening its influence and aug- 
menting the happiness and value of life to all 
people, of all colors, everywhere. 

He has done his work and will live an almost spotless character, 
embalmed forever in the nation's heart, as the patron saint of its con- 
summated liberty. — Henry Smith. 



36 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" There, again, are the sentiments I have expressed 
in regard to the Declaration of Independence upon 
a former occasion — sentiments which have been put 
in print and read wherever anybody cared to know 
what so humble an individual as myself chose to say 
in regard to it." 



"THOSE WHO DENY FREEDOM TO 

OTHERS DESERVE IT NOT 

FOR THEMSELVES." 

{Letter to the Republicans of Boston, April, fSjp.) 

" This is a world of compensation, and he who 

would be no slave, must consent to have no slave. 

Those who deny freedom to others deserve 

it not for themselves, and under a just God 

cannot long retain it." 



NATURAL RIGHTS OF THE NEGRO. 

{Speech at Columbus, O., September, fSjp.) 

" I have no purpose to introduce political and 

social equality between the white and the black 

races. There is a physical difference 
1850 , , .... . , 

between the two winch, in my judgment, 

will probably forbid their ever living together upon 

the footing of perfect equality, and inasmuch as it 

Great, illustrious, and successful as was his statesmanship, clear, 
penetrating, ami vigorous, his manhood must be acknowledged as 
that which has most enshrined him in the hearts of his countrymen^— 
Edward Staring. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 37 

becomes a necessity that there must be a differ- 
ence, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of 
the race to which I belong having the superior 
position. 

"I have never said anything to the contrary, but 
I hold that, notwithstanding all this, there is no 
reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to 
all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration 
of Independence, the right to life, liberty, and the 
pursuit of happiness. 

" In the right to eat the bread — without leave of 
anybody else — which his own hands earn, he is my 
equal, and the equal of Judge Douglas, and the 
equal of every living man'' 



KINDLY FEELING FOR HIS OPPONENTS. 

{Speech at Cincinnati, O., September, iSjp, addressed par- 
ticularly to Kentuckians.) 

" I will tell you, so far as I am authorized to speak 
for the opposition, what we mean to do with you. 
We mean to treat you, as near as we pos- 
sibly can, as Washington, Jefferson, and 
Madison treated you. We mean to leave you alone, 
and in no way to interfere with your institution ; 
to abide by all and every compromise of the Con- 
stitution, and, in a word, coming back to the origi- 
nal proposition, to treat you so far as degenerated 

The character of Abraham Lincoln was beautifully molded by the 
efforts of a mother, and the American people saw them in him when 
they called him to be the chief magistrate of the nation. — Robert ff. 
Williams. 



38 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

men (if we have degenerated) may, according to 
the examples of those noble fathers — Washington, 
Jefferson, and Madison. 

" We mean to remember that you are as good 
as we ; that there is no difference between us other 
than the difference of circumstances. We mean 
to recognize and bear in mind always that you 
have as good hearts in your bosoms as other peo- 
ple, or as we claim to have, and treat you accord- 
ingly. We mean to marry your girls when we 
have a chance, — the white ones, I mean, — and I 
have the honor to inform you that I once did have 
a chance in that way. 

"The good old maxims of the Bible are applic- 
able to human affairs, and in this, as in other 
things, we may say here that he who is not 
for us is against us ; he who gathereth not 
with us scattereth. 

" I should be glad to have some of the many 
good and able and noble men of the South to place 
themselves where we can confer upon them the high 
honor of an election upon one or the other end of 
our ticket. It would do my soul good to do that 
thing. 

" It would enable us to teach them that, inas- 
much as we elect one of their number to carry out 
our principles, we are free from the charge that we 
mean more than we say." 

Heroic soul, in homely garb half hid. 

Sincere, sagacious, melancholy, quaint. 

What he endured, no less than what he did, 

Has reared his monument, and crowned him saint. 

— J . T. Trowbridge. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 39 

SETTLEMENT WITH AN AGENT OF THE 
POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 

An agent of the Post Office Department called 
upon Mr. Lincoln, as late postmaster at New Salem. 
111., to obtain a small balance of seventeen 
dollars, which was found due the department. 
Going to an old trunk, Mr. Lincoln took therefrom 
the exact amount, which he had laid away, and 
handed it to the agent with the remark : " I never 
use any man's money but my own." 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

The following autobiography was written by Mr. 
Lincoln's own hand at the request of J. W. Fell of 
Springfield, 111., December 20, 1859. ^ n the note 
which accompanied it the writer says : " Herewith is 
a little sketch, as you requested. There is not much 
of it, for the reason, I suppose, that there is not 
much of me." 

"I was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin Co., 
Ky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of 
undistinguished families — second families, 
perhaps I should say. My mother, who 
died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name 
of Hanks, some of whom now reside in Adams 
Co., and others in Mason Co., 111. My paternal 
grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from 

More eyes have looked upon his funeral procession for sixteen 
hundred miles or more by night and by day, by sunlight, twilight, 
and torchlight, than ever before watched the progress of a procession. 
g-Richard H. Steele. 



40 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

Rockingham Co., Va., to Kentucky, about 1781 or 
1782, where, a year or two later, he was killed by 
Indians, not in battle, but by stealth, when he was 
laboring to open a farm in the forest. His ances- 
tors, who were Quakers, went to Virginia from Berks 
Co., Pa. An effort to identify them with the New 
England family of the same name ended in nothing 
more definite than a similarity of Christian names 
in both families, such as Enoch, Levi, Mordecai, 
Solomon, Abraham, and the like. 

" My father, at the death of his father, was but 
six years of age, and grew up literally without any 
education. He removed from Kentucky to what is 
now Spencer Co., Ind., in my eighth year. We 
reached our new home about the time the State 
came into the Union. It was a wild region, with 
many bears and other wild animals still in the 
woods. There I grew up. There were some 
schools, so-called, but no qualification was ever re- 
quired of a teacher beyond ' readin', writin', and 
cipherin',' to the rule of three. If a straggler, sup- 
posed to understand Latin, happened to sojourn in 
the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard. 
There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for 
education. Of course, when I came of age I did 
not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, 
write, and cipher to the rule of three, but that was 
all. I have not been to school since. The little 
advance I now have upon this store of education I 

Mr. Lincoln believed the Union was to stand and be a union for 
liberty, and he wisely believed the less of wrath the people had to 
forget the easier it would be in the j^reat l ' av •>! reconstruction to 
close up in a fellowship that should endure. — A. D. ALiyo. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 41 

have picked up from time to time under the pressure 
of necessity. 

" I was raised to farm work, at which I continued 
till I was twenty-two. At twenty-one I came to 
Illinois, and passed the first year in Macon County. 
Then I got to New Salem, at that time in Sangamon, 
now Menard County, where I remained a year as a 
sort of clerk in a store. Then came the Black Hawk 
War, and I was elected a captain of volunteers — a 
success which gave me more pleasure than any I 
have had since. I went into the campaign, was 
elected, ran for the Legislature the same year (1832), 
and was beaten — the only time I have ever been 
beaten by the people. The next and three succeed- 
ing biennial elections I was elected to the Legisla- 
ture. I was not a candidate afterward. During the 
legislative period I had studied law, and removed to 
Springfield to practice it. In 1846 I was elected to 
the Lower House of Congress. Was not a candi- 
date for re-election. From 1849 to I 854, both in- 
clusive, practiced law more assiduously than ever 
before. Always a Whig in politics, and generally 
on the Whig electoral ticket, making active can- 
vasses. I was losing interest in politics when the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me 
again. What I have done since then is pretty well 
known. 

" If any personal description of me is thought de- 
sirable, it may be said I am in height six feet four 

If he could have roused for one moment to consciousness and his 
lips had had power to speak, who can doubt that his language would 
have been, forgetting all personal wrong, " Father, forgive them, for 
they know not what they do." — Charles Lowe. 



42 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

inches, nearly ; lean in flesh, weighing, on an aver- 
age, one hundred and eighty pounds; dark com- 
plexion, with coarse black hair and gray eyes — no 
other marks or brands recollected. 

44 Yours very truly, 

44 A. Lincoln." 



VIEWS REGARDING A PROTECTIVE 
TARIFF. 

{Letter to Dr. Edward Wallace, October n, iSjp.) 

44 1 believe if we could have a moderate, carefully 

adjusted protective tariff, so far acquiesced in as 

not to be a perpetual subject of political 

strife, squabbles, changes, and uncertainties, 

it would be better for us." 



"LET US HAVE FAITH THAT RIGHT 
MAKES MIGHT." 

{Speech at Cooper Institute, February 27, 1S60.) 

44 1 defy anyone to show that any living man in 
the whole world ever did, prior to the beginning of 
the present century (and I might almost say 
prior to the beginning of the last half of the 
present century), declare that, in his understanding, 
any proper division of local from Federal authority, 
or any part of the Constitution, forbade the Federal 

He was a great leader, because to his common sense was added the 
gift of imagination. — Clunks Dudley Warner. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 43 

Government to control as to slavery in the Federal 
Territories. 

" To those who now so declare, I give, not only 
1 our fathers who framed the government under 
which we live,' but with them all other living men 
within the century in which it was framed, among 
whom to search, and they shall not be able to find 
the evidence of a single man agreeing with them. 

" I do not mean to say we are bound to follow 
implicitly in whatever our fathers did. To do so 
would be to discard all the lights of current experi- 
ence, to reject all progress, all improvement. 
What I do say is, that if we would supplant the 
opinions and policy of our fathers in any case, we 
should do so upon evidence so conclusive, and argu- 
ment so clear, that even their authority, fairly con- 
sidered and weighed, cannot stand ; and most surely 
not in a case whereof we ourselves declare they un- 
derstood the question better than we. 

" Let all who believe that ' our fathers, who 
framed the government under which we live,' under- 
stood this question just as well, and even 
better, than we do now, speak as they spoke, 
and act as they acted upon it. 

" It is exceedingly desirable that all parts of this 
great confederacy shall be at peace, and in har- 
mony, one with another. Let us Republicans do 
our part to have it so. Even though much pro- 
voked, let us do nothing through passion and ill- 
temper. 



Abraham Lincoln threw himself into the deadly breach to perpetu- 
ate the freedom and integrity of the nation. — D. L. Gear. 



44 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" Even though the Southern people will not so 
much as listen to us, let us calmly consider their de- 
mands, and yield to them if, in our deliberate view 
of our duty, we possibly can. Judging by all they 
say and do, and by the subject and nature of their 
controversy with us, let us determine, if we can, 
what will satisfy them. 

"Wrong as we think slavery is, we can yet afford 
to let it alone where it is, because that much is due 
to the necessity arising from its actual 
presence in the nation. But can we, while 
our votes will prevent it, allow it to spread into the 
national Territories, and to overrun us here in these 
free States ? 

" If our sense of duty forbids this, then let us 
stand by our duty, fearlessly and effectively. Let 
us be diverted by none of those sophistical con- 
trivances wherewith we are so industriously plied 
and belabored — contrivances such as groping for 
some middle ground between the right and wrong, 
vain as the search for a man who should be neither 
a living man nor a dead man ; such as a policy of 
1 don't care ' on a question about which all true men 
do care ; such as Union appeals beseeching true 
Union men to yield to Disunionists, reversing the 
divine rule, and calling, not the sinners, but the 
righteous to repentance ; such as invocations to 
Washington imploring men to unsay what Washing- 
ton said, and undo what Washington did. 

Scan the world, select the greatest statesmen and scholars of the 
Old and New World, and tell me, with the light even of to-day, 
where is the man who could have better executed the trusts com- 
mitted to him than Abraham Lincoln. — Kufus P. Tapley. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 45 

'* Let us have faith that right makes might, and in 
that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty, as 
we understand it." 



"WE SHALL TRY TO DO OUR DUTY." 

{Speech at Leavenworth, Kans., spring of i860) 

" If we shall constitutionally elect a President, it 
will be our duty to see that you also submit. Old 
John Brown has been executed for treason 
against a State. We cannot object, even 
though he agreed with us in thinking slavery 
wrong. That cannot excuse violence, bloodshed, 
and treason. It could avail him nothing that he 
might think himself right. So, if we constitution- 
ally elect a president, and, therefore, you under- 
take to destroy the Union, it will be our duty 
to deal with you as old John Brown has been dealt 
with. We shall try to do our duty. We hope 
and believe that in no section will a majority 
so act as to render such extreme measure 
necessary." 



WOULD NOT BUY THE NOMINATION 
FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 

To a party who wished to be empowered to nego- 
tiate reward for promises of influence in 
the Chicago Convention, i860, Mr. Lincoln 



i860 



replied 



It did not please God to spare him until the people were settled in 
peace in the redeemed and reunited land. — S. Irenaus Prime. 



46 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" No, gentlemen ; I have not asked the nomina- 
tion, and I will not now buy it with pledges. If I 
am nominated and elected, I shall not go into the 
presidency as the tool of this man or that man, or 
as the property of any factor or clique." 



FIRST NEWS OF HIS NOMINATION FOR 
THE PRESIDENCY. 

While seated in the Journal office, Springfield, 

111., May 8, i860, Mr. Lincoln was handed a 

telegram which gave him the first news of 

his nomination for presidency. His first words were : 

" There's a little woman down at our house would 

like to hear this — I'll go down and tell her." 



FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS NOMI- 
NATION FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 

{Reply to the President of the Convention, at the Homestead, 
Springfield, May ig, 1S60.) 

" I tender to you, and through you to the Repub- 
lican National Convention, and all the people repre- 
sented in it, my profoundest thanks for 
the high honor done me, which you now 
formally announce. 

" Deeply, and even painfully, sensible of the great 
responsibility which is inseparable from this high 

Through all the disastrous lavs and years of the long conflict, it 
was a gift of superlative greatness in Mr. Lincoln to know just how 

muih and how little to say ami do. — Charles Hammond, 




Photo, i86t, Ale Nulla, Springfield, 111. 
A. LINCOLN. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 47 

honor,— a responsibility which I could almost wish 
had fallen upon some one of the far more eminent 
men and experienced statesmen whose distinguished 
names were before the convention,— I shall, by your 
leave, consider more fully the resolutions of the 
convention, denominated the platform, and, without 
any unnecessary or unreasonable delay, respond to 
you, Mr. Chairman, in writing, not doubting that 
the platform will be found satisfactory, and the 
nomination gratefully accepted." 



THE PLEDGE WITH COLD WATER. 

{Remarks to the Committee that notified him, at his home, 
May i860, of his Nomination.) 

"Gentlemen, we must pledge our mutual health 
in this most healthy beverage which God has given 

i860 man ' ** * s t ^ le on ^ y Dev erage I have ever 
used or allowed in my family, and I cannot 
conscientiously depart from it on the present 
occasion. It is pure Adam's ale from the well." 



LINCOLN'S MODESTY. 

{Speech at the State Fair, Springfield, III., August 8, i860.) 

At the conclusion of the following speech, Mr. 
Lincoln descended from the platform and with diffi- 
culty made his way through the vast throng 
who eagerly pressed around to take him by 



It now seems that any man, however endowed, like Abraham 
Lincoln, could not have so well filled the demand as president. — 
E. 0. Haven. 



48 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

the hand. By an adroit movement he escaped on 
horseback, while the crowd were besieging the car- 
riage in which it was expected he would return to 
the city. 

" It is my purpose since I have been placed in 
my present position to make no speeches. This 
assembly having been drawn together at the place 
of my residence, it appeared to be the wish of those 
constituting this vast assembly to see me, and it is 
certainly my wish to see all of you. I appear upon 
this ground here at this time only for the purpose 
of offering myself the best opportunity of seeing 
you and enabling you to see me. 

"I confess with gratitude, be it understood, that 

I did not suppose my appearance among you would 

create the tumult which I now witness. I 

am gratified because it is a tribute which 

can be paid to no man as a man. 

"It is the evidence that four years from this time 
you will give a like manifestation to the next man 
who is the representative of the truth on the ques- 
tions that now agitate the public. And it is because 
you will then fight for this cause as you do now, or 
even with greater ardor than now, though I may 
be dead and gone." 



It is certainly a wondrous Providence that, when republican 
institutions were about to be put to a fearful test, and the blaze of 
this gigantic strife was to attract the eyes of the world, and the vital 
powers of free government were to be illustrated, such a man as 
Lincoln should have been elevated to the gaze of mankind. — S. C. 
BaUriJge. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 49 

"I SEE THE STORM COMING — WITH 
GOD'S HELP I SHALL NOT FAIL." 

(A quiet talk in the State House, Springfield, III., during the 
campaign of 1S60.) 

" I know there is a God, and that He hates injus- 
tice and slavery. I see the storm coming, and I 
know that His hand is in it. If He has 
a place and work for me, — and I think He 
has, — I believe I am ready. 

" I am nothing, but truth is everything. I know 
I am right because I know that liberty is right, for 
Christ teaches it, and Christ is God. 

" I have told them that ' a house divided against 
itself cannot stand,' and Christ and reason say the 
same ; and they will find it so. Douglas don't care 
whether slavery is voted up or voted down, but God 
cares, and humanity cares, and I care; and with 
God's help I shall not fail. 

" I may not see the end ; but it will come, and I 
shall be vindicated ; and these men will find that 
they have not read their Bibles aright." 



"ALL AMERICAN CITIZENS ARE 
BROTHERS." 

(Rejoicing over the November election, Springfield, III., 
November 20, i860, at a political meeting.) 

" I rejoice with you in the success which has so 
far attended the Republican cause, yet in all our 
rejoicing let us neither express nor cherish any hard 

The greatest man of his age. — A. E. Burnside. 



50 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

feelings toward any citizen who by his vote differed 

with us. Let us at all times remember 
i860 , ... . . . , , , 

that all American citizens are brothers of a 

common country, and should dwell together in the 

bonds of fraternal feeling." 



THE PEOPLE DO WELL IF WELL 
DONE BY. 

{Speech at Bloomington, III., en route to Chicago, 
November 21, i860.) 

" I am glad to meet you, after a longer separation 

than has been common between you and me. I 

thank you for the good report you made of 

the election in old McLean. The people of 

the country have again fixed up their affairs for a 

constitutional period of time. 

" By the way, I think very much of the people, 
as an old friend said he thought of a woman. He 
said when he lost his wife, who had been a great 
help to him in his business, he thought he was 
ruined — that he could never find another to fill her 
place. At length, however, he married another, 
who he found did quite as well as the first, and that 
his opinion now was that any woman would do well 
who was well done by. 

" So I think of the whole people of the nation — 

It is hard to say what more Lincoln, living, might have consecrated 
to his country, but Ood ordained that, by Ml death, every doubt in 
regard to the future of this nation should be swept away. — Erskine 
N. White. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 5 1 

they will ever do well if well done by. We will try 
to do well by them in all parts of the coun- 
try, North and South, with entire confidence 

that all will be well with all of us." 



HIS " EARLY HISTORY." 

{Reply to a gentleman who asked for a sketch of his life.) 

" My early history is perfectly characterized by a 
single line of Gray's ' Elegy ' : 

" ' The short and simple annals of the poor.' " 



LAST VISIT TO HIS LAW OFFICE. 

{Conversation with his law partner, Wm. H. Herndon, be/ore 
leaving for Washington, 1861.) 

" I love the people here, Billy, and owe them all 
that I am. If God spares my life to the 
end, I shall come back among you and 
spend the remnant of my days." 



FAREWELL ADDRESS TO HIS 
NEIGHBORS. 

{When leaving Springfield for Washington, February 11, 
1861.) 

" My friends, no one not in my position can ap- 
preciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this 
people I owe all that I am. Here I have 
lived more than a quarter of a century. 

I yield to no one in veneration to his memory, or admiration for his 
grand qualities of head and heart. — Levi P. Morton, 



52 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

Here my children were born, and here one of them 
lies buried. 

" I know not how soon I shall see you again. A 
duty devolves upon me which is greater, perhaps, 
than that which has devolved upon any other man 
since the days of Washington. He never would 
have succeeded except for the aid of divine Provi- 
dence, upon which he at all time relied. 

" I feel that I cannot succeed without the same 
divine aid which sustained him ; and on the same 
Almighty Being I place my reliance for support, 
and I hope you, my friends, will pray that I 
may receive the divine assistance, without which I 
cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. 
Again, I bid you all an affectionate farewell." 



"BEHIND THE CLOUD THE SUN IS STILL 
SHINING." 

{Speech at Tolotio, III., February //, jS6i.) 

" I am leaving you on an errand of national im- 
portance, attended, as you are aware, with considera- 
ble difficulties. Let us believe, as some 
poet has expressed it, ' Behind the cloud 
the sun is still shining.' " 



We brought him from westward because he was just ; 
We made him our chieftain, we gave him our trust ; 
Serene in the midst of the tumult he stood, 
And we learn that 'tis greatest of all to be good. 

— Martha Perry Lowe. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 53 

"PRESERVE THE UNION AND LIBERTY." 

(In response to an address of welcome by Governor O. P. Morton, 
Indianapolis, February n, 1861.) 

" In all trying positions in which I shall be 
placed, and, doubtless, I shall be placed in many 
such, my reliance will be placed upon you 
and the people of the United States; and I 
wish you to remember, now and forever, that it is 
your business, and not mine; that if the union of 
these States, and the liberties of this people, shall 
be lost, it is but little to any one man of fifty-two 
years of age, but a great deal to the thirty millions 
of people who inhabit these United States, and to 
their posterity in all coming time. 

" It is your business to rise up and preserve the 
Union and liberty for yourselves, and not for me." 



THE PEOPLE'S POWER AS ETERNAL AS 
THE PRINCIPLE OF LIBERTY. 

{Speech at Lawrenceburg, Ind., February 12, 1S61.) 

" The power intrusted to me shall be exercised as 

perfectly to protect the rights of your neighbors 

across the river, as to protect yours on this 

side. I know no difference in the protection 

of constitutional rights on either side of the river. 

An ardent lover of his whole country, hating no one, desiring to 
punish no one, yearning to see the Union restored, and the old good 
will and good humor return to bless the land. — Albert Pike. 



54 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" If, in my brief term of public office, I shall be 
wicked or foolish, if you remain right and true and 
honest, you cannot be betrayed. My power is tem- 
porary and fleeting ; yours is as eternal as the prin- 
ciple of liberty. 

" Cultivate and protect that sentiment, and your 
ambitious leaders will be reduced to the position of 
servants instead of masters." 



RESPONSE TO AN ADDRESS OF WELCOME 
FROM MAYOR BISHOP. 

{Speech at the Burnet House, Cincinnati, February 12, 1861.) 

" I have spoken but once before this in Cincinnati. 
That was a year previous to the late presidential 
election. On that occasion, in a playful 
manner, but with sincere words, I addressed 
much of what I said to the Kentuckians. I then 
said, We mean to remember that you are as good as 
we — that there is no difference between us, other 
than the difference of circumstances. We mean to 
recognize and bear in mind always that you have as 
good hearts in your bosoms as other people, or as 
good as we claim to have, and treat you accord- 
ingly. 

" Fellow-citizens of Kentucky, friends, brethren, — 
may I call you such? — in my new position I see no 
more occasion and feel no inclination to retract a 

The name of Abraham Lincoln will shine with ever-increasing 
luster, as the result of his public life and services shall be more clearly 
manifested. — Henry S. Friae. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 55 

word of this. If it shall not be made good, be 
assured that the fault shall not be mine." 



LOOKS TO GOD AND THE AMERICAN 
PEOPLE FOR SUPPORT. 

(Address to the Ohio Legislature, Columbus, February ij, 1S61.) 

" It is true, as has been said by the President of 
the Senate, that very great responsibility rests upon 
me in the position to which the votes of the 
American people have called me. I am 
deeply sensible of that weighty responsibility. I 
cannot but know, what you all know, that without a 
name — perhaps without a reason why I should have 
a name — there has fallen upon me a task such as 
did not rest upon the Father of his Country. 

" And, so feeling, I cannot but turn and look 
back for the support without which it will be im- 
possible for me to perform that great task. I turn, 
then, and look to the American people, and to that 
God who has never forsaken them." 



" I SHALL VERY SOON PASS AWAY FROM 
YOU." 

(Address at Columbus, O., from the Capitol steps, February 
13, 1 861.) 

" I am doubly thankful that you have appeared 

here to give me this greeting. It is not much to 

me, for I shall very soon pass away from 

you ; but we have a large country and a 

The typical American, pure and simple. — Asa Gray. 



56 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

large future before us, and the manifestations of 
good will toward the government, and affection for 
the Union, which you may exhibit, are of immense 
value to you and your posterity forever." 



THE MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN 
PEOPLE MUST RULE. 

{Speech at the depot, Steubenville, O., February 14, 1S61.) 

" I fear that great confidence in my abilities is un- 
founded. The place I am about to assume is encom- 
passed by vast difficulties. As I am, nothing 
shall be wanting on my part. Unless sus- 
tained by the American people and God, I cannot 
hope to be successful. I believe the devotion to the 
Constitution is equally great on both sides of the 
river; it is only the different understandings of it. 
The only dispute is, what are their rights? 

" If the majority should not rule, who should be 
the judge? When such a judge is found we must 
be all bound by his decision. That judge is the 
majority of the American people; if not, then the 
minority must control. Would that be right, just, 
or generous? Assuredly not. 

" If a wrong policy is adopted, the opportunity to 
condemn it would occur in four years ; then I can 
be turned out, and a better man, with better views, 
put in my place." 

Some men at his very side chided him for slowness, but it did not 
quicken liis Itep, and others, equally near to him in influence, rebuked 
liim for hastiness, hut it availed nothing to check his onward prog- 
ress. — Henry Darling. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 57 

"A JUST AND EQUITABLE TARIFF." 

{Address at Pittsburg, Pa., February ij, 7S61.) 

"According to my political education, I am in- 
clined to believe that the people in the various por- 
tions of the country should have their own 

1861 . . , , ii- 

views carried out through their representa- 
tives in Congress ; that consideration of the tariff 
bill should not be postponed until the next session 
of the National Legislature. 

" No subject should engage your representatives 
more closely than that of the tariff. If I have any 
recommendation to make, it will be that every man 
who is called upon to serve the people, in a repre- 
sentative capacity, should study the whole subject 
thoroughly, as I intend to do myself, looking to all 
the varied interests of the common country, so that, 
when the time for action arrives, adequate protec- 
tion shall be extended to the coal and iron of Penn- 
sylvania and the corn of Illinois. 

" Permit me to express the hope that the impor- 
tant subject may receive such consideration at the 
hands of your representatives that the interests of 
no part of the country may be overlooked, but that 
all sections may share in the common benefit of a 
just and equitable tariff." 



His name, reaching down through the age of time, 
Will still through the age of eternity shine- 
Like a star, sailing on through the depths of the blue, 
On whose brightness we gaze every evening anew. 

— B. F. Taylor. 



58 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

RESPONSE TO AN ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 

{Cleveland O., February sj, 1861.) 

" In a community like this, whose appearances — 

I may say whose very clothes, whose well-built 

houses, whose numerous schools, and all 

other evidences before me — testify to their 

intelligence, I am convinced that the cause of liberty 

and the Union can never be in danger." 



A HEART TRUE TO THE WORK. 

{Speech at Buffalo, N. Y„ February 16, 1S61.) 

" Your worthy mayor has thought fit to express 
the hope that I may be able to relieve the country 
from the present, or I should say the threat- 
ened, difficulties. I am sure I bring a heart 
true to the work. 

" For the ability to perform it, I trust in that Su- 
preme Being who has never forsaken this favored 
land, through the instrumentality of this great and 
intelligent people. Without that assistance I should 
surely fail ; with it I cannot fail." 



Possessing the simplicity of a child and the tenderness of a woman, 
he combined in his make-up all the sterner qualities of a perfect man. 
A close observer of men, measures, and events, and to a discrimi- 
nating mind that led to a correct judgment, was added a conscien- 
tiousness of the right, and a moral courage to do it, that enabled him 
to execute his honest convictions. — /•'. B. Sfintier, 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 59 

THE HUMBLEST OF ALL THE 
PRESIDENTS. 

(Speech to the Legislature, Albany, N. Y., February 18, 1861) 

" It is true that, while I hold myself, without 

mock modesty, the humblest of all the individuals 

who have ever been elected President of the 

United States, I yet have a more difficult 

task to perform than any one of them has ever 

encountered. 

" You have here generously tendered me the sup- 
port, the united support, of the great Empire State. 
For this, in behalf of the nation ; in behalf of the 
present and future of the nation ; in behalf of the 
cause of civil liberty in all time to come, I most 
gratefully thank you. 

" I do not propose now to enter upon any expres- 
sions as to the particular line of policy to be adopted 
with reference to the difficulties that stand before 
us in the opening of the incoming administration. 

" I deem that it is just to the country, to myself, 
to you, that I should see everything, hear every- 
thing, and have every light that can possibly be 
brought within my reach to aid me before I shall 
speak officially, in order that, when I do speak, I 
may have the best possible means of taking correct 
and true grounds. 

" I still have confidence that the Almighty Ruler 

He had the heart of a child and the intellect of a philosopher. A 
patriot without guile, a politician without cunning or selfishness, 
a statesman of practical sense rather than fine-spun theory. — Andrew 
S human. 



60 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

of the Universe, through the instrumentality of this 
great and intelligent people, can, and will, bring us 
through this difficulty, as He has heretofore brought 
us through all preceding difficulties of the country." 



WITH HELP, HE WILL CARRY THE SHIP 
OF STATE THROUGH THE STORM. 

{Response to an address of welcofne by the Mayor of Pough- 
keepsie, N. Y., February 19, 1861.) 

" lam not sure — I do not pretend to be sure — that 
in the selection of the individual who has been 
elected this term, the wisest choice has been 
made. I fear it has not. In the purposes 
and in the principles that have been sustained, I 
have been the instrument selected to carry forward 
the affairs of this government. I can rely upon 
you, and upon the people of the country ; and with 
their sustaining hand, I think that even I shall not 
fail in carrying the Ship of State through the storm." 



STAND BY THE UNION. 

{Reply to an address of welcome by the Mayor of New York 
City, February 20, 1S61.) 

"There is nothing that could ever bring me to 

willingly consent to the destruction of this Union, 

under which not only the great commercial 

City of New York, but the whole country. 

He was the most perfect ruler of man the world has ever seen. — 
Edwin M. Stanton. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 6l 

acquired its greatness, except it be the purpose for 
which the Union itself was formed. 

" I understand the ship to be made for the carry- 
ing and the preservation of the cargo, and so long as 
the ship can be saved with the cargo, it should never 
be abandoned, unless there appears no possibility 
of its preservation, and it must cease to exist, except 
at the risk of throwing overboard both freight and 
passengers." 



THE EARLY AND COMING STRUGGLE 
FOR LIBERTY. 

{Address in the Senate Chamber, Trenton, N. /., 
February 31, 1861.) 

" May I be pardoned, if, upon this occasion, I 
mention, that away back in my childhood — the 
earliest days of my being able to read — I got 
hold of a small book, such a one as few of 
the younger members have ever seen, ' Weems' Life 
of Washington ' ; I remember all the accounts there 
given of the battlefields and struggles for the 
liberties of the country, and none fixed themselves 
upon my imagination so deeply as the struggle here 
at Trenton. The crossing of the river, the contest 
with the Hessians, the great hardships endured at 
that time, all fixed themselves on my memory more 
than any single Revolutionary event ; and you all 
know, for you have all been boys, how these early 
impressions last longer than any other. 

He has gone in the supreme summer of his renown. The index 
finger pointed to high noon on the dial of his fame. — E. S. Atwood. 



62 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" I recollect thinking then, boy even though I 
was, that there must have been something more 

than common that those men struggled for. 

I am exceedingly anxious that that thing 
which they struggled for — that something even 
more than National independence, that something 
that held out a great promise to all the people of 
the world for all time to come — I am exceedingly 
anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the 
liberties of the people, shall be perpetuated in 
accordance with the original idea for which that 
struggle was made, and I shall be most happy, indeed, 
if I shall be an humble instrument in the hands of 
the Almighty, and of this, his most chosen people, 
for perpetuating the object of the great struggle." 



NO ONE MORE DEVOTED TO PEACE. 

(Address in the Assembly Chamber, Trenton, N. J., 
February 21, 1861.) 

"The man does not live who is more devoted to 
peace than I am — none who would do more to 
preserve it. But it may be necessary to put 
the foot down firmly. And if I do my duty, 
and do right, you will sustain me, will you not? 
Received, as I am, by the members of the Legis- 
lature, the majority of whom do not agree with me 
in political sentiments, I trust that I may have their 
assistance in piloting the Ship of State through this 

I believe, In all the annals of our race, Abraham Lincoln is the 
finest example of an unknown man rising from obscurity and ascend- 
ing to the loftiest heights of human grandeur.—; James Speed. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 63 

voyage, surrounded by perils as it is ; for if it should 
suffer shipwreck now, there will be no pilot ever 
needed for another voyage." 



LIBERTY FOR ALL FUTURE TIME. 

{Reply to an Address of Welcome, Independence Hall, 
Philadelphia, February 22, 1861.) 

" I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself 
standing here, in this place, where were collected 
the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to 
principle, from which sprang the institutions 
under which we live. You have kindly suggested to 
me that in my hands is the task of restoring peace 
to the present distracted condition of the country. 
I can say in return, sir, that all the political senti- 
ments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have 
been able to draw them, from the sentiments which 
originated and were given to the world from this 
hall. 

" I have never had a feeling, politically, that did 
not spring from the sentiments embodied in the 
Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered 
over the dangers which were incurred by the men 
who assembled here, and framed and adopted that 
Declaration of Independence. I have pondered 
over the toils that were endured by the officers 
and soldiers of the army who achieved that 
Independence. 

His strong common sense, undaunted patriotism, and wise states- 
manship have left an impress on our institutions which will never be 
effaced so long as this is freedom's throne. — W. 0. Bradley, 



64 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" I have often inquired of myself what great 
principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy 
so long together. It was not the mere 
matter of the separation of the colonies 
from the motherland, but that sentiment in the 
Declaration of Independence which gave liberty, 
not alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, 
to the world for all future time. 

" It was that which you promise, that in due time 
the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of 
all men. This is the sentiment embodied in the 
Declaration of Independence. 

" Now, my friends, can this country be saved 
upon this basis? If it can, I will consider myself 
one of the happiest men in the world if I can help 
to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that princi- 
ple, it will be truly awful. But if this country can- 
not be saved without giving up that principle, I was 
about to say I would rather be assassinated on this 
spot than surrender it." 



"ADD STAR UPON STAR." 

{Remarks when he raised a new flag over Independence Hall, 
Philadelphia^ February 22, 1861.) 

"It is on such an occasion as this that we can 
reason together — reaffirm our devotion to the coun- 
try and the principles of the Declaration of 
Independence. Let us make up our mind 
that when we do put a new star upon our banner, 

It is my humble judgment that in all the positions the grear 
crisis forced him into, he was a perfect lit. — J. M. Bailey. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 6$ 

it shall be a fixed one, never to be dimmed by the 
horrors of war, but brightened by the contentment 
and prosperity of peace. 

" Let us go on to extend the area of our useful- 
ness, add star upon star ; until their light shall shine 
upon five hundred millions of a free and happy 
people." 



"THE FLAG MAY STILL BE KEPT 
FLAUNTING GLORIOUSLY." 

(Address to the Legislature, Harrisburg, February 22, /S6f.) 

" I have already gone through one exceedingly 
interesting scene this morning, in the ceremonies at 
Philadelphia. I was for the first time allowed 
the privilege of standing in Old Independ- 
ence Hall, to have a few words addressed to me 
there, and opening up to me an opportunity of 
expressing, with much regret, that I had not more 
time to express something of my own feelings 
excited by that occasion, somewhat to harmonize 
and give shape to the feelings that had been really 
the feelings of my whole life. 

" Besides this, my friends there had provided a 
magnificent flag of the country. They had arranged 
it so that I was given the honor of raising it to the 
head of its staff. And when it went up I was 
pleased that it went up to its place by the strength 
of my own feeble arm. When, according to the 

His sense of humor was as logical as his mind was .clear and his 
heart generous. — S. S. Cox. 



66 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

arrangement, the cord was pulled, and it floated 
gloriously to the wind without an accident, in the 
light, glowing sunshine of the morning, I could not 
help hoping that there was in the entire success of 
that beautiful ceremony at least something of an 
omen of what is to come. How could I help feel- 
ing then, as I often have felt, in the whole of that 
proceeding I was a very humble instrument ? 

" I had not provided the flag ; I had not made 
the arrangements for elevating it to its place. I 
had applied but a very small portion of my feeble 
strength in raising it. In the whole transaction I 
was in the hands of the people who had arranged it. 
And if I can have the same generous co-operation 
of the people of the nation, I think the flag of our 
country may still be kept flaunting gloriously." 



ARRIVAL IN WASHINGTON. 

Mr. Lincoln arrived in Washington, February 23, 
1861. On the 27th he responded to an address 
of welcome by the mayor, James G. Berrett, in 
Willard's Hotel, as follows: 

"I will take this occasion to say that I think very 
much of the ill-feeling that has existed, and still 
exists, between the people in the sections 
from whence I came and the people here, 
is dependent upon a misunderstanding of one 
another. I therefore avail myself of this oppor- 
tunity to assure you, Mr. Mayor, and all the gentle- 

Thc purity of his patriotism inspired him with the wisdom of a 
statesman and the courage of a martyr. — Stanley Matthews. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 67 

men present, that I have not now, and never have 
had, any other than as kindly feelings toward you as 
the people of my own section. I have not now, and 
never have had, any disposition to treat you in any 
respect otherwise than as my own neighbors. I 
have not now any purpose to withhold from you 
any of the benefits of the Constitution, under any 
circumstances, that I would not feel myself con- 
strained to withhold from my neighbors ; and I 
hope, in a word, that when we shall become better 
acquainted, and I say it with great confidence, we 
shall like each other the more." 



HIS PECULIAR POSITION AT THE 
CAPITAL. 

(An address to the Republican Association at Willard's 
Hotel, February 28, 1S61.) 

" I have reached the City of Washington under 

circumstances considerably differing from those 

under which any other man has ever reached 
1861 J 

it. I am here for the purpose of taking an 

official position among the people, almost all of 

whom were politically opposed to me, and are yet 

opposed to me, as I suppose. I hope that, if things 

shall go along as prosperously as I believe we all 

desire they may, I may have it in my power to 

remove something of this misunderstanding." 

President Lincoln's Gettysburg address was the high-water mark of 
American oratory. — Thos. Wentworth Higginson. 



68 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS, MARCH 
4, 1861. 

" Apprehension seems to exist among the people 
of the Southern States, that by the occasion of a 
Republican administration, their property 
and their peace and personal security are to 
be endangered. There has never been any reason- 
able cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most 
ample evidence to the contrary has all the while 
existed, and been open to their inspection. It is 
found in nearly all the published speeches of him 
who now addresses you. 

" I do but quote from one of those speeches, 
when I declared that ' I have no purpose, directly 
or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of 
slavery, in the States where it exists.' 

" I believe I have no lawful right to do so, 
and I have no inclination to do so. Those who 
nominated and elected me did so with the full 
knowledge that I had made this and many similar 
declarations, and had never recanted them. I 
now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing so, 
I only press upon the public attention the most con- 
elusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, 
that the property, peace, and security of no section 
are to be in any wise endangered by the now 
incoming administration. 

Of all the rulers of the earth, no other one has ever heen borne to 
the tomb amid such extensive preparations to do him honor. His 
funeral procession may be said to have been more than one thousand 
miles long. — IV. A\ Gordon. 





— ^— — 

Photos by Coe, Washington. 
U. S. CAPITOL AND WHITE HOUSE. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 69 

I take the official oath to-day with no mental 
reservations, and with no purpose to construe the 
Constitution or laws by any hypercritical rules; 
and, while I do not choose now to specify partic- 
lar acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I 
do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both 
in official and private stations, to conform to and 
abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed, 
than to violate any of them, trusting to find im- 
punity in having them held to be unconstitutional. 

" It is seventy-two years since the first inaugu- 
ration of a president under our national constitu- 
tion. During that period, fifteen different 
and very distinguished citizens have in suc- 
cession administered the executive branch of the 
government. They have conducted it through 
many perils, and generally with great success. 
Yet, with this scope for precedent, I now enter 
upon the same task, for the brief constitutional 
term of four years, under great and peculiar 
difficulties. 

" I hold, that in the contemplation of universal 
law and the Constitution, the union of these States 
is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not ex- 
pressed, in the fundamental law of all national 
governments. It is safe to assert that no govern- 
ment proper ever had a provision in its organic 
law for its own termination. Continue to execute 
all the express provisions of our national Consti- 
tution, and the Union will endure forever. 

The Cooper Institute speech of Mr. Lincoln is one of the purest 
specimens of composition in Saxon words to be found in the English 
language. — Leonard Bacon. 



70 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" To those, however, who really love the Union, 
may I not speak ? Before entering upon so grave 
a matter as the destruction of our national 
fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, 
and its hopes, would it not be well to ascertain why 
we do it ? Will you hazard so desperate a step 
while any portion of the ills you fly from have no 
real existence ? Will you, while the certain ills 
you fly to are greater than all the real ones you 
fly from ? Will you risk the commission of so 
fearful a mistake ? 

" All profess to be content in the Union if all 
constitutional rights can be maintained. Is it true, 
then, that any right plainly written in the Consti- 
tution has been denied ? I think not. Happily, 
the human mind is so constituted that no party 
can reach to the audacity of doing this. 

" All the vital rights of minorities and of indi- 
viduals are so plainly assured to them by affirma* 
tions and negations, guarantees and prohibitions, 
in the Constitution, that controversies never arise 
concerning them. But no organic law can ever 
be framed with a provision specifically applicable 
to every question which may occur in practical 
administration. No foresight can anticipate, nor 
any document of reasonable length contain, express 
provision for all possible questions. 

"Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by 

The common people, from whom he sprang, and for whom he 
labored, and with whom he was identified, and who placed him in 
power, will guard his name with sleepless vigilance, and will point 
their posterity to his grave as the shrine or American freedom.— 
B. F. Bradford. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. Jl 

National or by State authority? The Constitution 
does not expressly say. Must Congress pro- 
tect slavery in the Territories? The Consti- 
tution does not expressly say. 

" From questions of this class spring all our con- 
stitutional controversies, and we divide upon them 
into majorities and minorities. If the minority will 
not acquiesce, the majority must, or the government 
must cease. There is no alternative for continuing 
the government but acquiescence on the one side or 
the other. 

"If the minority will secede rather than ac- 
quiesce, they make a precedent which, in turn, will 
ruin and divide them ; for a minority of their 
own will secede from them whenever a majority 
refuses to be controlled by such a minority. For 
instance, why should not any portion of a new con- 
federacy, a year or two hence, arbitrarily secede 
again, precisely as portions of the present Union 
now claim to secede from it ? 

"All who cherish disunion sentiments are now 
being educated to the exact temper of doing this. 
Is there such perfect identity of interest among the 
States to compose a new union as to produce har- 
mony only, and prevent renewed secession? Plainly, 
the central idea of secession is the essence of 
anarchy. 

" Physically speaking, we cannot separate ; we 

While the ship of state was buffeting the fiercest storms, he stood 
calm as Columbus, disregarding the clamors of the discontented, and, 
with compass in hand, measured with steady glance wind and sail, 
and steered toward the peaceful haven of union and freedom.— 
Hugo Krebs. 



72 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

cannot move our respective sections from each 
other, nor build an impassable wall between them. 
A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of 
the presence and beyond the reach of each other; 
but the different parts of our country cannot do 
this. They cannot but remain face to face ; and in- 
tercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue 
between them. 

" Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse 
more advantageous or more satisfactory after sepa- 
ration than before? Suppose you go to war, you 
cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on 
both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fight- 
ing, the identical questions as to terms of inter- 
course are again upon you. 

"Why should there not be a patient confidence 
in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any 
better or equal hope in the world ? In our 
present differences, is either party without 
faith of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler 
of Nations, with His eternal truth and justice, be on 
your side of the North, or on your side of the 
South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail 
by the judgment of this great tribunal — the Amer- 
ican people. 

" My countrymen, one and all, think calmly 
and well upon this whole subject. Nothing valu- 
able can be lost by taking time. If there be 
an object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a 
step which you would never take deliberately, that 

lie was not an orator, and yet where in the English langufl 
l.c found eloquence of higher tone or more magnetic power than his 
('iCttysl'iirg speech?—////^/; UeCutloUgk, 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 73 

object will be frustrated by taking time ; but no 
good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you 
as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution 
unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of 
your own framing under it ; while the new adminis- 
tration will have no immediate power, if it would, to 
change it. 

" If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied 
hold the right side in the dispute, there is still no 
single reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, 
patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him 
who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are 
still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our 
present difficulties. 

" In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-country- 
men, and not in mine, is the momentous 

1861 . , . .. 

issue of civil war. 

" The government will not assail you ; you can 
have no conflict without being yourselves the 
aggressors. 

" You can have no oath registered in heaven to 
destroy the government ; while I shall have the 
most solemn one to ' preserve, protect, and de- 
fend ' it. 

" I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but 
friends. We must not be enemies. Though pas- 
sion may have strained, it must not break, our bonds 
of affection. 

" The mystic chords of memory, stretching from 
every battlefield and patriot grave to every living 

Abraham Lincoln will be honored by a grateful posterity as the 
directing and representative mind in the pregnant epoch of history. — 
James W. Patterson. 



74 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will 
yet swell the chorus of the Union when again 
touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels 
of our nature." 



"ALL HONOR TO JEFFERSON." 

{Letter, April 6, 1861, replying to an invitation from the 
Republicans of Boston to attend a festival in honor of the 
anniversary of Jefferson's birthday.) 

"All honor to Jefferson; to a man who, in the 
concrete pressure of a struggle for national inde- 
pendence by a single people, had the cool- 
ness, forecast, and capacity to introduce 
into a merely revolutionary document an abstract 
truth, applicable to all men and all times, and so to 
embalm it there, that to-day and in all coming days 
it shall be a rebuke and a stumbling-block to the 
harbingers of reappearing tyranny and oppression ! " 



PRESERVING THE PEACE OF 
MARYLAND. 

{Message to the Governor, April 20, 1S61) 

"I desire to consult with you and the mayor of 
Baltimore relative to preserving the peace 
of Maryland. Please come immediately." 

A legion of politicians might beset him and urge him to effort, but 
having heard them all, he would take counsel of his conscience, and 
perhaps still remain inactive. He would do nothing, unless he could 
see clearly what it was right to do. — Albert S. Hunt. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 7$ 

" HAD NO MORAL RIGHT TO SHRINK." 

{First annual message to the extra session of Congress, 
July 4, 1861.) 

"As a private citizen the Executive could not 
have consented that these institutions shall perish ; 
much less could he in betrayal of so vast 
and so sacred a trust as these free people 
have confided to him. He felt that he had no 
moral right to shrink, or even to count the chances 
of his own life, in what might follow. 

" In full view of his great responsibility he has 
so far done what he has deemed his duty. You will 
now, according to your own judgment, perform 
yours. He sincerely hopes that your views and 
your action may so accord with his, as to assure all 
faithful citizens who have been disturbed in their 
rights, of a certain and speedy restoration of them 
under the Constitution and the laws. And having 
thus chosen our course, without guile and with pure 
purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go for- 
ward without fear and with manly hearts." 



RECRUITING NORTH CAROLINIANS. 

{Letter to Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, 
September 16, 1861.) 

" Since conversing with you I have concluded to 

request you to frame an order for recruiting North 

Carolinians at Fort Hatteras. I suggest it 

be so framed as for us to accept a smaller 

Too much cannot be done to preserve the memory and deepen the 
moral impression of a man like Lincoln. — 0. B. Frothingham. 



j6 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

force — even a company — if we cannot get a regi- 
ment or more. What is necessary to now say about 
officers, you will judge. Governor Seward says he 
has a nephew (Clarence A. Seward, I believe) who 
would be willing to go and play colonel and assist 
in raising the force ; still, it is to be considered 
whether the North Carolinians will not prefer 
officers of their own. I should expect they would." 



LETTER TO MAJOR-GENERAL DAVID 
HUNTER, OCTOBER 24, 1861. 

" I propose to offer you a few suggestions. 
Knowing how hazardous it is to bind down a dis- 
tant commander in the field to specific lines 
and operations, as so much always depends 
on a knowledge of locations and passing events.it is 
intended, therefore, to leave considerable margin 
for the exercise of your judgment and discretion." 



LABOR THE SUPERIOR OF CAPITAL. 

(Message to Congress, December j, 1S61.) 

"Labor is prior to and independent of capital. 

Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never 

have existed if labor had not first existed. 

Labor is the superior of capital, and 

He was sai rificed, but his martyrdom gave emphasis to the living 
principles embodied in our American Constitution, as the lifting up 
• >f Christ elevated t lie principles it was his mission to establish. — 
Richard Smith. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. J7 

deserves much the higher consideration. Capital 
has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as 
any rights, nor is it denied that there is, and prob- 
ably always will be, a relation between labor and 
capital, producing mutual benefits. 

"The prudent, penniless beginner in the world 
labors for wages a while, saves a surplus with which 
to buy tools or land for himself, then labors on his 
own account another while, and at length hires 
another new beginner to help him. 

" This is the just, and generous, and prosperous 
system, which opens the way to all, gives hope 
to all, and consequent energy, and progress, and 
improvement of condition to all. No men living 
are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil 
up from poverty — none less inclined to take or 
touch aught which they have not honestly earned. 

" Let them beware of surrendering a political 
power which they already possess, and which, if sur- 
rendered, will surely be used to close the door of 
advancement against such as they, and to fix new 
disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of liberty 
shall be lost. 

"The struggle of to-day is not altogether for 

to-day ; it is for a vast future also. With a 

reliance on Providence, all the more firm and 

earnest, let us proceed in the great task which events 

have devolved upon us." 

Born of the people, well he knew to grasp 

The wants and wishes of the weak and small ; 

Therefore we hold him with no shadowy clasp. 
Therefore his name is household to us all. 

— Alice Cary. 



78 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

LETTER TO GENERAL DON CARLOS 
BUELL, JANUARY 6, 1862. 

" Your dispatch of yesterday has been received, 
and it disappoints and distresses me. I am not com- 
petent to criticise your views, and therefore 
what I offer is merely in justification of 
myself. Of the two, I would rather have a point 
on the railroad south of Cumberland Gap than 
Nashville ; first, because it cuts a great artery of 
the enemy's communication, which Nashville does 
not ; and secondly, because it is in the midst of 
loyal people, who would rally around it, while Nash- 
ville is not. I do not intend this to be an order in 
any sense, but merely, as intimated before, to show 
you the grounds of my anxiety." 



LETTER TO GENERAL GEORGE B. 
McCLELLAN, APRIL 9, 1862. 

" I beg to assure you that I have never written or 

spoken to you in greater kindness of feeling than 

now, nor with a fuller purpose to sustain 
1862 . r r . 

you so far as in my most anxious judgment 

I consistently can." 



Grandly and alone he walked his way through this life, and the 
world had no honors, no emoluments, no reproaches, no shames, no 
punishments which he could not have borne without swerving or bias. 
—Jane Grey Swissholm. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 79 

BILL ABOLISHING SLAVERY IN THE DIS- 
TRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

{Message to Congress, April 16, 1862, approving the dill.) 

" I have never doubted the constitutional author- 
ity of Congress to abolish slavery in this District ; 

and I have ever desired to see the national 
1862 

capital freed from the institution in some 

satisfactory way." 



GRADUAL EMANCIPATION— COMPEN- 
SATION FOR THE SLAVES. 

(Conference with the members of Congress from the border 
slave States, July 12, 1862.) 

" If the war continues long, as it must if the 
object be not sooner attained, the institution in 
your States will be extinguished by mere 
friction and abrasion — by the mere incidents 
of the war. It will be gone, and you will have 
nothing valuable in lieu of it. Much of its value is 
gone already. 

" How much better for you and for your people 
to take the step which at once shortens the war, 
and secures substantial compensation for that 
which is sure to be wholly lost in any other 
event ! 

For my single self, I have for a quarter of a century regarded Mr. 
Lincoln as the finest lawyer I ever knew, entitling him to be pre- 
sented to the profession as a model well worthy of the closest imita- 
tion. — Sidney Breece. 



80 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" How much better to thus save the money which 
else we sink forever in the war ! 

" How much better to do it while we can, lest the 
war ere long renders us pecuniarily unable to do it ! 

" How much better for you, as seller, and the 
nation, as buyer, to sell out and buy out that with- 
out which the war could never have been, than to 
sink both the thing to be sold and the price of it in 
cutting one another's throats ! I do not speak of 
emancipation at once, but of a decision at once to 
emancipate gradually." 



"DEPENDENCE UPON THE FAVOR OF 
GOD." 

{Reply to a committee from the Lutheran General Synod, 
May i, 1862.) 

"You all may recollect that in taking up the 
sword forced into our hands, this government 
appealed to the prayers of the pious and the 
good, and declared that it placed its whole 
dependence upon the favor of God. I now humbly 
and reverently, in your presence, reiterate the 
acknowledgment of that dependence, not doubting 
that if it shall please the divine Being who deter- 
mines the destinies of nations, that this shall remain 
a united people, they will, humbly seeking the 
divine guidance, make their prolonged national 

Rough-hewn indeed, and unschooled in diplomatic phrase and 
usage, yet never losing sympathy with the people from whom he 
sprung, and so always able to speak ami write the mind ami heart of 
the people. — Bdwitt A. BtukUy, 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 8 1 

existence a source of new benefits to themselves and 
their successors, and to all classes and conditions of 
mankind." 



" I SHALL ENDEAVOR TO DO MY DUTY." 

{Reply to a resolution of the East Baltimore Methodist Con- 
ference of Z862.) 

"These kind words of approval, coming from so 
numerous a body of intelligent Christian people, 
and so free from all suspicion of sinister motives, are 
indeed encouraging to me. By the help of 
an all-wise Providence, I shall endeavor to 
do my duty, and I shall expect the continuance of 
your prayers for a right solution of our national 
difficulties, and the restoration of our country to 
peace and prosperity." 



"I SHALL DO NOTHING IN MALICE." 

{Letter to Gutberth Bullett of New Orleans, July 28, 1862.) 

" I am in no boastful mood. I shall not do more 
than I can, but shall do all I can to save the govern- 
ment; which is my sworn duty as well as my 
personal inclination. I shall do nothing in 
malice. What I deal with is too vast for malicious 
dealings." 

As the ship in heavy seas feels the tremendous strain in every tim- 
ber, and is strained in all her cordage, so did the President-elect 
realize, in anticipation, the possible perils of his position when leav- 
ing his peaceful home in the West. — J. L. Jane way. 



82 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

DEFENDS THE SECRETARY OF WAR. 

{Remarks at a war meeting, Washington, August 6, 1862.) 

" General McClellan has sometimes asked for 
things that the Secretary of War did not give him. 
General McClellan is not to blame for asking 
what he wanted and needed, and the Secre- 
tary of War is not to blame for not giving when he 
had none to give. And I say here, as far as I know, 
the Secretary of War has withheld no one thing 
at any time in my power to give him. I have no 
accusation against him. I believe he is a brave and 
able man, and I stand here, as justice requires me 
to do, to take upon myself what has been charged 
on the Secretary of War, as withholding from him." 



"WILLING TO ACT THOUGH IT COSTS 
MY LIFE." 

{Reply to M. D. Conway, and a friend, who implored Mr. 
Lincoln to emancipate the slaves.) 

" We grow in this direction daily, and I am not 
without hope that some great thing is to be accom- 
plished. When the hour comes for deal- 
ing with slavery, I trust I shall be willing to 
act though it costs my life ; and, gentlemen, lives 
will be lost." 

He will stand in the memory of the world among the most for- 
bearing, kindly, and gentle, whose generosity toward the most bitter 
foes is without a parallel among successful rulers and conquerors. — 
Warren Hathaway. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 83 

"MY PARAMOUNT OBJECT IS TO SAVE 
THE UNION." 

(Reply to an editorial of complaint in the N. Y. Tribune, by 
Horace Greeley, August ip, 1862.) 

" My paramount object is to save the Union, and 
not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could 
save the Union without freeing any slave, I 
would do it. If I could save it by freeing 
all the slaves, I would do it ; and if I could do it by 
freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also 
do that. What I do about slavery and the colored 
race, I do because I believe it helps to save this 
Union ; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do 
not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall 
do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing 
hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I 
believe doing more will help the cause." 



"WHATEVER APPEARS TO BE GOD'S 
WILL, I WILL DO IT." 

{Reply to a deputation from all religious denominations of 
Chicago, September ij, 1862.) 

" I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say 

that if it is probable that God would reveal His will 

to others on a point so connected with my 

duty, it might be supposed He would reveal 

His character and service to this country will stand as a monument 
long after the granite monuments erected to his memory have crum« 
bled in the dust. — Thomas A. Edison, 



84 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

it directly to me ; for, unless I am more deceived in 
myself than I often am, it is my earnest desire to 
know the will of Providence in this matter. And if 
I can learn what it is I will do it. 

" These are not, however, the days of miracles, 
and I suppose it will be granted that I am not to 
expect a direct revelation. I must study the plain 
physical facts of the case, ascertain what is possible, 
and learn what appears to be wise and right. What- 
ever appears to be God's will I will do it." 



READING THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAM- 
ATION TO HIS CABINET. 

{Remarks at the meeting, September 22, 1862.) 

" Gentlemen : I have, as you are aware, thought 
a great deal about the relation of this war to slav- 
ery, and you all remember that several 
weeks ago I read to you an order that I had 
prepared upon the subject, which, on account of 
objections made by some of you, was not issued. 
Ever since then my mind has been much occupied 
with this subject, and I have thought all along that 
the time for acting on it might probably come. 

" I think the time has come now ; I wish it was a 
better time. I wish that we were in a better condi. 
don. The action of the army against the rebels 
has not been quite what I should have best liked, 

Not a sovereign in Europe, however trained from the cradle for 
state pomps, and however prompted by statesmen and courtiers, 
could have uttered himself more regally than did Lincoln at 
Gettysburg. — GoUwtM Smith. 




Photo, x%ti,.Springfield\Ill. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND HIS PRIVATE SECRETARIES, 
NICOLAY AND HAY. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 85 

but they have been driven out of Maryland, and 
Pennsylvania is no longer in danger of invasion. 

" When the rebel army was at Frederick, I deter- 
mined, as soon as it should be driven out of Mary- 
land, to issue a proclamation of emancipation, such 
as I thought most likely to be useful. I said nothing 
to anyone, but I made a promise to myself and, 
hesitating a little, to my Maker. 

" The rebel army is now driven out, and I am 
going to fulfill that promise. I have got you to- 
gether to hear what I have written down. I do not 
wish your advice about the main matter, for that I 
have determined for myself. This I say without in- 
tending anything but respect for any one of you. 
But I already know the views of each on this ques- 
tion. They have been heretofore expressed, and I 
have considered them as thoroughly and carefully 
as I can. What I have written is that which my 
reflections have determined me to say. If there is 
anything in the expressions I use, or in any minor 
matter which any one of you think had best be 
changed, I shall be glad to receive your suggestions. 

" One other observation I will make. I know 
very well that many others might, in this matter as 
in others, do better than I can; and if I was satisfied 
that the public confidence was more fully possessed 
by any one of them than by me, and knew of any 
constitutional way in which he could be put in my 
place, he should have it. I would gladly yield to 

Behold him, standing with hand reached out to feed the South 
with mercy and the North with charity, and the whole land with 
peace, when the Lord, who had sent him, called him, and his work 
was done. — Phillips Brooks. 



86 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

him. But though I believe I have not so much of 
the confidence of the people as I had some time 
since, I do not know that, all things considered, any 
other person has more ; and, however this may be, 
there is no way in which I can have any other man 
put where I am. I am here ; I must do the best I 
can, and bear the responsibility of taking the course 
which I feel I ought to take." 



PRELIMINARY PROCLAMATION OF 
EMANCIPATION. 

{Issued September 22, 1862.) 

" That on the first day of January, in the year of 
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
three, all persons held as slaves within any 
State or designated part of a State, the 
people whereof shall then be in rebellion against 
the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and 
forever, free ; and the Executive Government of the 
United States, including the military and naval 
authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the 
freedom of such persons, and will do no act or 
acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in 
any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. 

" That the Executive will, on the first day of 
January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the 
States and parts of States, if any, in which the 

He did more to perpetuate the existence of free institutions than 
any man that lias ever lived, and the debt mankind owes his memory 
can never be repaid. — GtOTgt Stoiiamin. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 87 

people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion 
against the United States ; and the fact that any 
State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be 
in good faith represented in the Congress of the 
United States, by members chosen thereto at elec- 
tions wherein a majority of the qualified voters of 
such State shall have participated, shall, in the 
absence of strong countervailing testimony, be 
deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and 
the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against 
the United States." 



LETTER TO GENERAL GRANT, OCTOBER 

8, 1862. 

" I congratulate you and all concerned in your 
recent battles and victories. How does it all sum 
up ? I especially regret the death of Gen- 
eral Hackleman, and am very anxious to 
know the condition of General Oglesby, who is an 
intimate personal friend." 



LETTER TO THOMAS H. CLAY OF CIN- 
CINNATI, OCTOBER 8, 1862. 

" I sincerely wish war was an easier and pleas- 
anter business than it is, but it does not 
admit of holidays." 

There can be no correct history of this nation, as it has passed 
through this great struggle for existence, without the life of Abraham 
Lincoln. — Wm. A. Buckingham. 



88 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH DAY IN 
THE ARMY AND NAVY. 

{General Orders, November ij, 1862.) 

" The importance for man and beast of the pre- 
scribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian 
soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference 
to the best sentiments of a Christian peo- 
ple, and a due regard for the divine will, demand 
that Sunday labor in the army and navy be 
reduced to the measure of strict necessity. 

" The discipline and character of the national 
forces should not suffer, nor the cause they defend 
be imperiled by the profanation of the day or name 
of the Most High. 'At this time of public dis- 
tress' — adopting the words of Washington in 1776 
— ' men may find enough to do in the service of 
God and their country without abandoning them- 
selves to vice and immorality.' 

" The first general order issued by the Father 
of his Country after the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, indicates the spirit in which our insti- 
tutions were founded and should ever be de- 
fended : 

" ' The General hopes and trusts that every officer 
and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a 
Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and 
liberties of his country! " 

President Lincoln had a heart capable of the greatest sympathy 
and the keenest emotions for the carnage and destruction he saw 
going on in every direction. — DctviJ D. Porter. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 89 

"THE WAY IS PLAIN— THE WORLD WILL 
FOREVER APPLAUD." 

(Message to Congress, December 7, 1862.) 

" The civil war, which has so radically changed, 
for the moment, the occupation and habits of the 
American people, has necessarily disturbed 
the social conditions, and affected very 
deeply the prosperity of the nations with which we 
have carried on a commerce that has been stead- 
ily increasing throughout a period of half a cen- 
tury. It has, at the same time, excited political 
ambitions and apprehensions which have produced 
a profound agitation throughout the civilized 
world. In this unusual agitation we have fore- 
borne from taking part in any controversy between 
foreign states, and between parties or factions in 
such states. We have attempted no propagandism, 
and acknowledged no revolution. But we have left 
to every nation the exclusive conduct and manage- 
ment of its own affairs. 

" A return to specie payments, however, at the 
earliest period compatible with due regard to all 
interests concerned, should ever be kept in view. 
Fluctuations in the value of currency are always 
injurious, and to reduce these fluctuations to the 
lowest possible point will always be a leading pur- 
pose in wise legislation. Convertibility, prompt 
and certain convertibility, into coin is generally 

His character was based upon truth, and, having been placed by 
fortune in the proper sphere of action, he showed he was a truly 
great man, — Abram 5, Hewitt, 



90 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

acknowledged to be the best and surest safeguard 
against them ; and it is extremely doubtful whether 
a circulation of United States notes, payable in 
coin, and sufficiently large for the wants of the 
people, can be permanently useful and safely 
maintained. 

" A nation may be said to consist of its territory, 
its people, and its laws. The territory is the only 
part which is of certain durability: 'one 
generation passeth away, and another gene- 
ration cometh, but the earth abideth forever.' It is 
of the first importance to duly consider and esti- 
mate this ever-enduring part. That portion of the 
earth's surface which is owned and inhabited by the 
people of the United States is well adapted to be 
the home of one national family, and it is not well 
adapted for two or more. Its vast extent and its 
variety of climate and productions are of advantage 
in this age for one people, whatever they might 
have been in former ages. Steam, telegraphs, and in- 
telligence have brought these to be an advantageous 
combination for one united people. 

" There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable 
for a national boundary, upon which to divide. 
Trace through, from east to west, upon the line 
between the free and slave country, and we shall 
find a little more than one-third of its length 
are rivers, easy to be crossed, and populated, or 
soon to be populated, thickly upon both sides ; 
while nearly all its remaining length are merely sur- 

Ncver before did man raise himself from utter obscurity to a place 
of such honorable and lasting fame, where he shall stand as long as 
men keep the record uf the great and good. — Henry E. Badger, 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 91 

veyors' lines, over which people may walk back and 
forth without any consciousness of their presence. 
No part of this line can be made any more difficult 
to pass by writing it down on paper or parchment 
as a national boundary. 

" The fact of separation, if it comes, gives up, on 
the part of the seceding section, the fugitive slave 
clause, along with all other constitutional obligations 
upon the section seceded from, while I should ex- 
pect no treaty stipulation would ever be made to 
take its place. 

" Among the friends of the Union there is a great 
diversity of sentiment and of policy in regard to 
slavery and the African race amongst us. 
Some would perpetuate slavery ; some 
would abolish it suddenly, and without compensa- 
tion ; some would abolish it gradually, and with 
compensation; some would remove the freed people 
from us, and some would retain them with us ; and 
there are yet other minor diversities. Because of 
these diversities, we waste much strength among 
ourselves. By mutual concession we should harmo- 
nize and act together. 

" I do not forget the gravity which should char- 
acterize a paper addressed to the Congress of the 
Nation by the Chief Magistrate of the Nation. Nor 
do I forget that some of you are my seniors ; nor 
that many of you have more experience than I in 
the conduct of public affairs. Yet I trust that, in 
view of the great responsibility resting upon me, 

We feel how grandly secure we were while the star, now hidden in 
higher splendors, held up with its unfailing influences the very struc- 
ture and frame of the government. — R. S. Storrs. 



92 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

you will perceive no want of respect to yourselves 
in any undue earnestness I may seem to display. 

" We cannot escape history. We of this Con- 
gress and this administration will be remembered in 

spite of ourselves. No personal significance 

1862 F . . .- * * ., . 

or insignificance can spare one or another of 

us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light 

us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. 

" We say that we are for the Union. The world 
will not forget that we say this. We know how to 
save the Union. The world knows we do know 
how to save it. We — even we here — hold the power 
and bear the responsibility. 

" In giving freedom to the slave, we assure free- 
dom to the free — honorable alike in what we give 
and what we preserve. 

" We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last 
hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this 
could not, cannot, fail. 

" The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just — a 
way which, if followed, the world will forever ap- 
plaud, and God must forever bless." 



LETTER TO HON. FERNANDO WOOD OF 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 12, 1862. 

" If ' the Southern States would send representa- 
tives to the next Congress ' — to be substantially the 
same as that ' the people of the Southern 
States would cease resistance, and would 

He touched the manacles of four millions of men and women, and 
in the twinkle of an eye they drop off forever. — Wtn. P. Frye. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 93 

reinaugurate, submit to, and maintain the national 
authority within the limits of such States, under the 
Constitution of the United States,' I say that in such 
case the war would cease on the part of the United 
States; and that within a reasonable time, if ' a full 
and general amnesty ' were necessary to such end, it 
would not be withheld." 



TENDERS THE THANKS OF THE NATION. 

{Address to the Army of the Potomac, December 22, 1S62.) 

" I have just read your commanding general's 

preliminary report of the battle of Fredericksburg. 

Although you were not successful, the at- 
1862 & J , , ., 

tempt was not an error, nor the failure 

other than an accident. The courage with which 
you, in an open field, maintained the contest against 
an intrenched foe, and the consummate skill and 
success with which you crossed and recrossed the 
river, in face of the enemy, show that you possess 
all the qualities of a great army, which will yet give 
victory to the cause of the country and of popular 
government. 

" Condoling with the mourners for the dead, and 
sympathizing with the severely wounded, I con- 
gratulate you that the number of both is compara- 
tively so small. I tender to you, officers and 
soldiers, the thanks of the nation." 

When history crystallizes, when the events of a century shall be 
recorded in a sentence, then will the administration of Lincoln be 
the epochal marks of his age. — C. E. Pratt. 



94 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

"THE TIMES ARE DARK— THE MERCY 
OF GOD ALONE CAN SAVE US." 

{To Rev. Byron Sunderland, Washington, who called with 
friends during the last days of 1862.) 

"I hold myself, in my present position and with 
the authority vested in me, as an instrument of 
Providence. I have my own views and pur- 
poses. I have my convictions of duty, 
and my notions of what is right to be done. But 
I am conscious every moment that all I am and all 
I have is subject to the control of a Higher Power, 
and that Power can use me or not use me in any 
manner, and at any time, as in His wisdom and 
might may be pleasing to Him. These are simply 
with me the convictions and realities of great and 
vital truths, the power and demonstration of which 
I see now in the light of this our national struggle 
as I have never seen before. 

"God only knows the issue of this business. He 
has destroyed nations from the maps of history 
for their sins. Nevertheless, my hopes prevail 
generally above my fears for our Republic. The 
times are dark, the spirits of ruin are abroad in 
all their power, and the mercy of God alone can 
save us." 



Let childhood drop the wreaths of May, 
hair woman place choice funeral flowers 

Above his yrandly coffined clay — 
The palm is his, the cross is ours. 

— W. If. C. Hosmer. 




Washington. 

i in \n.u. WAS i 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 95 

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 

(Issued January i, 1863.) 

"Now therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President 
of the United States, by virtue of the power vested 
in me as Commander-in-Chief of the Army 
and Navy, in a time of actual armed rebel- 
lion against the authority of the Government of the 
United States, as a fit and necessary war measure 
for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of 
January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my 
purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full 
period of one hundred days from the date of the 
first above-mentioned order, designate as the States 
and parts of States therein the people whereof, 
respectively, are this day in rebellion against the 
United States, the following, to wit : 

" Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana (except the 
parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. 
John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assump- 
tion, Terrebonne, La Fourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, 
and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), 
Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Caro- 
lina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty- 
eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also 



A nation free shall send thy name 

Through coming ages down : 
Thank God, though ours may be the cross, 

Thine is the victor's crown ! 

— Mrs. R. A. Cameron. 



g6 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, 
Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, 
including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), 
which excepted parts are for the present left pre- 
cisely as if this proclamation were not issued ; and 
by virtue of the power and for the purpose afore- 
said, I do order and declare that all persons held as 
slaves within designated States, or parts of States, 
are, and henceforward shall be free, and that the 
Executive Government of the United States, includ- 
ing the military and naval authorities thereof, will 
recognize and maintain the freedom of the said 
persons; and I hereby enjoin upon the people so 
declared to be free to abstain from all violence, 
unless in necessary self-defense ; and I recommend 
to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor 
faithfully for reasonable wages. And I further 
declare and make known that such persons, of suit- 
able condition, will be received into the armed ser- 
vice of the United States, to garrison forts, posi- 
tions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels 
of all sorts in said service. 

" And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an 
act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon 
military necessity, I invoke the considerate judg- 
ment of mankind, and the gracious favor of 
Almighty God." 



Let the eminence to which he attained, the power he had over 
men, the almost divine sagacity with which he led them, be an en- 
couragement to all men who believe in the possibility as well as the 
necessity of popular government in the coming ages of the world. — 
Joseph R. liawley. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 97 

"NOT ONE WORD OF IT WILL I EVER 
RECALL." 

{Remarks to some friends, concerning the Emancipation Proc- 
lamation, New Year's Evening, 1863.) 

" The signature looks a little tremulous, for my 
hand was tired, but my resolution was firm. 

" I told them in September, if they did not 

return to their allegiance, and cease murdering our 

soldiers, I would strike at this pillar of their 

strength. And now the promise shall be 

kept, and not one word of it will I ever recall." 



LETTER TO GENERAL SAMUEL R. CUR- 
TIS, DEPARTMENT OF MISSOURI. 

(Relative to the arrest of a church-member who sympathized 
with the Confederate army, fanuary 2, 1863.) 

" The United States Government must not, as by 
this order, undertake to run the churches. When 
an individual in church, or out of it, be- 
comes dangerous to the public interest, he 
must be checked ; but let the churches, as such, take 
care of themselves. It will not do for the United 
States to appoint trustees, supervisors, or other 
agents for the churches." 

Whether receiving the plaudits of a country court for a successful 
defense, or the homage and praise of millions in this and other lands 
for the liberation of a long-oppressed race and the preservation of the 
nation's life, he was the same modest, self-forgetting, undated man. 
— Wilbur P. Paddock. 



98 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

HIS VOW BEFORE GOD. 

{Remarks to Secretary S. P. Chase.) 

" I made a solemn vow before God, that if Gen. 
eral Lee was driven back from Pennsylvania, 
I would crown the result by the declaration 
of freedom to the slaves." 



PROVIDING FOR THE PAYMENT OF THE 
ARMY AND NAVY. 

{Message to Congress, January ig, i86j, in signing a joint 
resolution.) 

" It seems very plain that continued issues of 

United States notes without any check to the issues 

of suspended banks, and without adequate 
1863 . f . . . . . ^ , 

provisions for the raising of money by 

loans, and for funding the issues so as to keep them 
within due limits, might soon produce disastrous 
consequences, and this matter appears to me so im- 
portant that I feel bound to avail myself of this 
occasion to ask the special attention of Congress 
to it. 

" That Congress has power to regulate the 
currency of the country can hardly admit of doubt, 
and that a judicious measure to prevent the 
deterioration of this currency by a reasonable 

His native genius, the solidity of his understanding, his common 
sense, and remarkable sagacity, his patience and courage, his incor- 
ruptible integrity and steadfast faith in God, made him a noble man. 
— Ray J'almer. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 99 

taxation of bank circulation or otherwise is needed, 
seems equally clear. Independent of this general 
consideration, it would be unjust to the people at 
large to exempt banks, enjoying the special privilege 
of circulation, from their just proportion of the 
public burdens." 

"BEWARE OF RASHNESS." 

(To General Hooker, in giving him command of the Army of 
the Potomac.) 

" And now, beware of rashness, beware of rash- 
ness, but, with energy and sleepless vigi- 
lance, go forward and give us victories." 



REPLY TO AN ADDRESS FROM THE 
WORKINGMEN OF MANCHESTER, ENG. 

( Washington, fanuary ip, 1863.) 

" I know, and deeply deplore, the sufferings which 
the workingmen of Manchester, and in all Europe, 
are called to endure in this crisis. It has 
been often and studiously represented that 
the attempt to overthrow this government, which 
was built upon the foundation of human rights, and 
to substitute for it one which should rest exclusively 
on the basis of human slavery, was likely to obtain 
the favor of Europe. Through the action of our 
disloyal citizens, the workingmen of Europe have 

Abraham Lincoln's cheerfulness and wit were invaluable to him in 
the trying years of our civil war ; his unwavering faith that good 
would finally overcome evil buoyed his spirits through the darkest 
hours. — P. T. Barnum. 



IOO WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

been subjected to severe trials, for the purpose of 
forcing their sanction to that attempt. 

" Under these circumstances, I cannot but regard 
your decisive utterances upon the question as an 
instance of sublime Christian heroism, which has not 
been surpassed in any age or in any country. It is 
indeed an energetic and reinspiring assurance of the 
inherent power of truth, and the ultimate and uni- 
versal triumph of justice, humanity, and freedom. 
I do not doubt that the sentiments you have ex- 
pressed will be sustained by your great nation, and 
on the other hand I have no hesitation in assuring 
you that they will excite admiration, esteem, and 
the most reciprocal feelings of friendship among the 
American people. I hail this interchange of senti- 
ment, therefore, as an augury, that, whatever else 
may happen, whatever misfortune may befall your 
country or my own, the peace and friendship which 
now exists between the two nations will be, as it 
shall be my desire to make them, perpetual." 



SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE 
EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 

{Given to Mr. F. B. Carpenter by Mr. Lincoln) 

" Things had gone on from bad to worse, until I 

felt that we had reached the end of our rope on the 

plan of operations we had been pursuing; 

3 that we had about played our last card, and 

must change our tactics, or lose the game. 

His advent and destiny will emblazon history so long as the science 
of government shall be read and propagated by men. — //. M. Rector. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. IOI 

"I now determined upon the adoption of the 
emancipation policy; and, without consultation 
with, or the knowledge of, the cabinet, I prepared 
the original draft of the proclamation, and, after 
much anxious thought, called a cabinet meeting 
upon the subject. This was the last of July, or the 
first of the month of August, 1862. 

" I said to the cabinet that I had resolved upon 

this step, and had not called them together to ask 

their advice, but to lay the subject matter 

of a proclamation before them ; suggestions 

as to which would be in order after they had heard 

it read. Various suggestions were offered. 

" The result was that I put the draft of the proc- 
lamation aside, as you do your sketch for a picture, 
waiting for a victory. From time to time I added 
or changed a line, touching it up here and there, 
waiting the progress of events. Well, the next news 
we had was of Pope's disaster at Bull Run. Things 
looked darker than ever. 

" Finally came the week of the battle of Antietam. 
I determined to wait no longer. The news came, I 
think, on Wednesday, that the advantage was on our 
side. I was then staying at the ' Soldiers' Home.' 
Here I finished writing the second draft of the pre- 
liminary proclamation ; came up on Saturday, called 
the cabinet together to hear it, and it was published 
the following morning." 

There is a most unusual simplicity about his life, almost a child's 
life to the last, yet in the manliest proportions. He had no conceal- 
ments ; every step which he took in his political education became 
public property almost as soon as he became aware of it himself. — 
/. T. Tucker. 



102 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

"UNREASONING AND UNCHARITABLE 

PASSIONS, PREJUDICES, AND 

JEALOUSIES." 

{Reply to an invitation to preside over a meeting of the Chris- 
tian Commission, held in Washington, February 22, iS6j.) 

" While, for reasons which I deem sufficient, I 
must decline to preside, I cannot with- 
hold my approval of the meeting and its 
worthy object. 

" Whatever shall be sincerely and in God's name 
devised for the good of the soldiers and seamen in 
their hard spheres of duty, can scarcely fail to be 
blessed. And whatever shall tend to turn our 
thoughts from the unreasoning and uncharitable 
passions, prejudices, and jealousies incident to a 
great national trouble such as ours, and to fix them 
on the vast and long-enduring consequences, for 
weal or for woe, which are to result from the 
struggle, and especially to strengthen our reliance 
on the Supreme Being for the final triumph of the 
right, cannot but be well for us all. 

" The birthday of Washington and the Christian 
Sabbath coinciding this year, and suggesting to- 
gether the highest interests of this life and of that 
to come, it is the most propitious for the meeting 
proposed." 

His eyes had looked upon the stronghold, which had so long 
defied our armies ; and over it was (he dear oldfiag ! In one sense, 
this was a choice hour in which to die ; and in it he died — died with- 
out pain — scaling with his blood the testimony of his lips and life. — 
Richard II. Dunne. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 103 

LETTER TO GENERAL HOOKER, MAY 

7, 1863, AFTER THE DEFEAT OF 

HIS ARMY. 

" Have you already in your mind a plan wholly 
or partially formed ? If you have, prosecute it 

without interference from me. If you have 
1863 , . , T . 

not, please inform me, so that I, incompe- 
tent as I may be, can try and assist in the formation 
of some plan for the army." 



"THE GOVERNMENT MUST BE 
PERPETUATED." 

(Reply to a committee of sixty-five members from the General 
Assembly of Presbyterians, that met in Philadelphia, May, 
iS6j, and visited the President, presenting him with reso- 
lutions of endorsement and encouragement^ 

" In my administration I might have committed 
some errors. It would be indeed remarkable if I 
had not. I have acted according to my 
best judgment in every case. As a pilot I 
have used my best exertions to keep afloat our Ship 
of State, and shall be glad to resign my trust at the 
appointed time to another pilot more skillful and 
successful than I may prove. In every case, and at 
all hazards, the Government must be perpetuated. 

One of the noteworthy features of Lincoln's wonderful life was the 
manifest deepening of his sense of God's presence and providence dur- 
ing those later years when he bore the imperiled nation on his heart. — 
John H* Barrows. 



104 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" Relying, as I do, upon the Almighty Power, 
and encouraged, as I am, by these resolutions which 
you have just read, with the support which I receive 
from Christian men, I shall not hesitate to use all 
the means at my control to secure the termination 
of this rebellion, and will hope for success." 



LETTER TO GENERAL JOHN M. 
SCHOFIELD. 

{May 24, i86j, in taking command of thi Department of the 
Missouri?) 

" Now that you are in the position, I wish you 
to undo nothing merely because General Curtis or 
General Gamble did it, but to exercise vour 
own judgment, and do right for the public 
interest. Let your military measures be strong 
enough to repel the invader and keep the peace, 
and not so strong as to unnecessarily harass and 
persecute the people. 

" It is a difficult role, and so much greater will be 
the honor if you perform it well. If both factions, 
or neither, shall abuse you, you will probably be 
about right. Beware of being assailed by one and 
praised by the other." 



The entire nation felt safer when they heard Abraham Lincoln ask 
them to pray God to sustain him. He felt his dependence on the 
Most High, and dared not accept so lofty a trust without the blessing 
of the Almighty. — Denis Wcrtman. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 105 

REPLY TO ERASTUS CORNING, AND 
OTHERS, OF NEW YORK. 

( Who had protested against the arrest of C. L. Vallandzghatn.) 

" Must I shoot a simple-minded boy who deserts, 
while I must not touch a hair of a wily agi- 
tator who induces him to desert? 

" This is none the less injurious when effected by 
getting a father, or brother, or friend into a public 
meeting, and there working upon his feelings till 
he is persuaded to write the soldier-boy that he is 
fighting in a bad cause, for a wicked administration 
of a contemptible government, too weak to arrest 
and punish him if he shall desert. 

" I think that, in such a case, to silence the agi- 
tator and save the boy is not only constitutional, 
but withal a great mercy." 



IN CASE MISSOURI SHOULD ADOPT 
GRADUAL EMANCIPATION. 

{Reply to General Schofield, June 22, 1863.) 

" Desirous as I am that emancipation shall be 

adopted by Missouri, and believing, as I do, that 

gradual can be made better than immediate 

for both black and white, except when 

God endowed him with a nature as broad as the prairies of his own 
adopted State, spontaneously blossoming with all kindly graces, even 
as those prairies bloom with the beauty of countless flowers. — George 
W. Briggs. 



106 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

military necessity changes the case, my impulse is 
to say that such protection would be given. I can- 
not know exactly what shape an act of emancipa- 
tion may take. If the period from the initiation to 
the final end should be comparatively short, and 
the act should prevent persons being sold during 
that period into more lasting slavery, the whole 
would be easier. 

" I do not wish to pledge the General Govern- 
ment to the affirmative support of even temporary 
slavery beyond what can be fairly claimed 
under the Constitution. I suppose, how- 
ever, this is not desired, but that it is desired for 
the military force of the United States, while in 
Missouri, to not be used in subverting the tempo- 
rarily reserved legal rights in slaves during the prog- 
ress of emancipation. 

" This I would desire, also. I have very earnestly 
urged the slave States to adopt emancipation ; and 
it ought to be, and is, an object with me not to 
overthrow or thwart what any of them may, in 
good faith, do to that end. You are, therefore, 
authorized to act in the spirit of this letter, in con- 
junction with what may appear to be the military 
necessities of your department. 

" Although this letter will become public some 
time, it is not intended to be made so now." 



He was struck down just as the rainbow was spanning the clearing 
sky, just as he was about to open, in the name of the nation, the 
bright gates of the Temple of Peace, just when passion was quenching 
her fires, and the spears and the bow were being broken asunder. — 
II fury Fox. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. IOJ 

GRATITUDE TO GOD. 

{Proclamation, July 4, 1863.) 

"The President announces to the country that 
news from the army of the Potomac, up to 10 P. M., 
of the 3d, is such as to cover that army with 
the highest honor ; to promise a great suc- 
cess to the cause of the Union, and to claim the con- 
dolence of all for the many gallant fallen ; and that 
for this he especially desires that on this day, He 
whose will, not ours, should ever be done, be every- 
where remembered and ever reverenced with pro- 
found gratitude." 



RESPONSE TO A SERENADE AT THE 
WHITE HOUSE, JULY 7, 1863. 

{A large crowd of people and a band of music were on hand.) 

"I am very glad indeed to see you to-night, and 
yet I will not say I thank you for this call ; but I 
do most sincerely thank Almighty God for 
the occasion on which you have called. 
How long ago is it? — eighty odd years — since, on the 
Fourth of July, for the first time in the history of 
the world, a nation by its representatives assembled 

The next generation will acknowledge that the man who rose from 
a log cabin to the presidential chair, who led a vast republic through 
its wilderness of perilous confusions and its red sea of horrible carn- 
age, was a man who has no superior in the American annals. — Theo- 
dore L. Cuvler. 



108 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

and declared as a self-evident truth, ' that all men 
are created equal.' That was the birthday of the 
United States of America. Since then the Fourth 
of July has had several very peculiar recognitions. 

" The two men most distinguished in the framing 
and support of the Declaration were Thomas Jeffer- 
son and John Adams — the one having penned it 
and the other sustained it the most forcibly in 
debate — the only two of the fifty-five who signed it 
and were elected Presidents of the United States. 
Precisely fifty years after they put their hands to 
the paper, it pleased Almighty God to take both 
from this stage of action. This was indeed an 
extraordinary and remarkable event in our history. 
Another President five years after was called from 
this stage of existence on the same day and month 
of the year; and now on this last Fourth of July 
just passed, when we have a gigantic rebellion, at 
the bottom of which is an effort to overthrow the 
principle that all men were created equal, we have 
the surrender of a most powerful position and army 
on that very day. And not only so, but in a suc- 
cession of battles in Pennsylvania, near to us, 
through three days, so rapidly fought that they 
might be called one great battle, on the 1st, 2d, 
and 3d of the month of July; and on the 4th the 
cohorts of those who opposed the declaration that 
all men are created equal, ' turned tail ' and ran. 



There was a majesty in his character which shone forth on all 
great occasions ; though oppressed with the weight of responsibilites, 
he rose above all obstacles and proved himself equal in every emer- 
gency. — E. D, TownsenJ. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. IO9 

" Gentlemen, this is a glorious theme and the 
occasion for a speech, but I am not prepared to 
make one worthy of the occasion. I would 
3 like to speak in terms of praise due to the 
many brave officers and soldiers who have fought 
in the cause of the Union and liberties of their 
country from the beginning of the war. These are 
trying occasions, not only in success, but for the 
want of success. I dislike to mention the name of 
one single officer, lest I might do wrong to those I 
might forget. Recent events bring up glorious 
names, and particularly prominent ones ; but these 
I will not mention. Having said this much, I will 
now take the music." 



"AS LIKELY TO CAPTURE THE 'MAN IN 
THE MOON.'" 

(Dispatch to General Thomas, at Harrisburg, Pa., 
July 8, fS6j.) 

" Forces now beyond Carlisle to be joined by 
regiments still at Harrisburg, and the united force 
again to join Pierce somewhere, and the 
3 whole to move down the Cumberland Valley, 
will, in my unprofessional opinion, be quite as likely 
to capture the ' Man in the Moon ' as any part of 
Lee's Army." 



The work will be completed after Lincoln, as if finished by him ; 
but Lincoln will remain the austere and sacred personification of 
a great epoch, the most faithful expression of democracy. — Henri 
Martin. 



IIO WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO GENERAL 
GRANT. 

{Letter to General Grant, July ij, i86j) 

" I do not remember that you and I ever met per- 
sonally. I write this now as a grateful ac- 
knowledgment for the almost inestimable 
service you have done the country. 

" I write to say a word further. When you first 
reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you 
should do what you finally did — march the troops 
across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, 
and thus go below ; and I never had any faith, ex- 
cept a general hope that you knew better than I, 
that the Yazoo Pass expedition, and the like, could 
succeed. When you got below and took Port Gib- 
son, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should 
go down the river and join General Banks ; and 
when you turned northward, east of the Big Black, 
I feared it was a mistake. 

" I now wish to make the personal acknowledg- 
ment that you were right and I was wrong." 



A DAY FOR NATIONAL THANKSGIVING, 
PRAISE, AND PRAYER. 

{Proclamation issued July /j, iS6j.) 

" It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the 
supplication and prayers of an afflicted 
people, and to vouchsafe to the army and the 



He became our father.and his tomb is our shrine. — Ru/us Blanchard. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. Ill 

navy of the United States, on the land and on the 
sea, victories so signal and so effective as to furnish 
reasonable grounds for augmented confidence that 
the Union of these States will be maintained, their 
Constitution preserved, and their peace and prosper- 
ity permanently secured. But these victories have 
been accorded not without sacrifice of life, limb, and 
liberty, incurred by brave, patriotic, and loyal citi- 
zens. Domestic affliction, in every part of the 
country, follows in the train of these fearful be- 
reavements. It is meet and right to recognize and 
confess the presence of the Almighty Father; and 
the power of His hand equally in these triumphs and 
these sorrows. 

" Now, therefore, be it known, that I do set apart 
Thursday, the sixth day of August next, to be ob- 
served as a day for national thanksgiving, praise, 
and prayer; and I invite the people of the United 
States to assemble, on that occasion, in their cus- 
tomary places of worship, and, in the form approved 
by their own conscience, render the homage due to 
the Divine Majesty for the wonderful things He has 
done in the nation's behalf, and invoke the influence 
of His holy Spirit to subdue the anger which has 
produced, and so long sustained, a needless and 
cruel rebellion ; to change the hearts of the in- 
surgents ; to guide the counsels of the government 
with wisdom adequate to so great a national emer- 
gency ; and to visit with tender care and consolation, 

His greatness consisted not in the extraordinary development of 
any one faculty or attribute to the neglect of others, but in a fair and 
healthy growth of all the elements that make a man in the highest 
sense of the term. — A . B. Bascem. 



112 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

throughout the length and breadth of our land, all 
those who, through the vicissitudes of marches, voy- 
ages, battles, and sieges, have been brought to suffer 
in mind, body, or estate ; and finally, to lead the 
whole nation, through paths of repentance and sub- 
mission to the Divine will, back to the perfect 
enjoyment of union and fraternal peace." 



IN DISPENSING PATRONAGE THE DIS- 
ABLED SOLDIER TO HAVE THE 
PREFERENCE. 

{Letter to the Postmaster-General, July 27, i86j) 

"Yesterday little indorsements of mine went to 
you in two cases of postmasterships, sought for 
widows, whose husbands have fallen in the 
battles of this war. These cases, occurring 
on the same day, brought me to reflect more atten- 
tively than I had before done as to what is fairly 
due from us here in the dispensing of patronage to- 
ward the men who, by fighting our battles, bear the 
chief burden of saving our country. 

" My conclusion is that, other claims and qualifica- 
tions being equal, they have the right, and this is 
especially applicable to the disabled soldier and the 
deceased soldier's family." 

His towering figure, sharp and spare, 
Was with such nervous tension strung, 
As if on each strained sinew swung 

The burden of a people's care. 

— Char Us G. Halpine. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 113 

DISPATCH TO GENERAL BURNSIDE 
AT CINCINNATI, JULY 27, 1863. 

" General Grant is a copious worker and fighter, 
but a very meager writer or telegrapher." 



DECLINES AN INVITATION TO ATTEND 

THE ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN STATE 

CONVENTION, SEPTEMBER 3, 1863. 

{Letter to J. C. Conkling, Springfield, August 26, 1863.) 

"The signs look better. The Father of Waters 
again goes unvexed to the sea. Thanks to the 
great Northwest for it ; nor yet wholly to 
them. Three hundred miles up they met 
New England, Empire, Keystone, and Jersey hew- 
ing their way right and left. The sunny South, too, 
in more colors than one, also lent a helping hand. 
On the spot, their part of the history was jotted 
down in black and white. 

" The job was a great national one, and let none 
be slighted who bore an honorable part in it. And 
while those who cleared the river may well be proud, 
even that is not all. It is hard to say that anything 
has been more bravely and well done than at Antie- 

Such love a prince might crave, such homage seek : 
The people's love that clothed him like a king, 
The grateful trust those hands were swift to bring 

Whose broken fetters of deliverance speak. 

— Harriet McEwen Kimball. 



114 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

tarn, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on many fields 
of less note. 

" Nor must Uncle Sam's web-feet be forgotten. 
At all the watery margins they have been present. 
Not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, and the 
rapid river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, 
and wherever the ground was a little damp, they 
have been and made their tracks. 

" Thanks to all. For the great republic — for the 
principle it lives by and keeps alive — for man's vast 
future — thanks to all. 

11 Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I 
hope it will come soon, and come to stay ; and so 
come as to be worth the keeping in all 
future time. It will then have been proved 
that, among freemen, there can be no successful 
appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they 
who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and 
pay the cost. 

" And there will be some black men who can 
remember that, with silent tongue, and clinched 
teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonets, 
they have helped mankind on to this great consum- 
mation, while I fear there will be some white ones 
unable to forget that, with malignant heart and 
deceitful speech, they have striven to hinder it. 

" Still, let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy 
final triumph. Let us be quite sober. Let us dili- 
gently apply the means, never doubting that a just 

The death of Mr. Lincoln struck the car ami awoke the sympathy 
of European nations, which echoed back, through numerous expres- 
sions of condolence, the commingled tones of a wide-spread grief.— 
/. M. Fur mt on. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 115 

God, in His own good time, will give us the rightful 
result." 



CONGRATULATING THE PRESIDENT ON 

ISSUING THE EMANCIPATION 

PROCLAMATION. 

{Speech to a large body of people who assembled before the 
White House, September 24, i86j.) 

" What I did, I did after a very full determination, 
and under a very heavy and solemn sense of re- 
sponsibility. I can only trust in God I have 

1863 I , \ , , J 

made no mistake. 

" It is now for the country and the world to pass 
judgment, and, maybe, take action upon it. In my 
position, I am environed with difficulties. Yet they 
are scarcely so great as the difficulties of those who, 
upon the battlefield, are endeavoring to purchase, 
with their blood and their lives, the future happi- 
ness and prosperity of their country. Let us never 
forget them ! " 

PARDON FOR A DESERTER. 

(Remarks to Hon. Schuyler Colfax, who asked for a respite!) 

" Some of our generals complain that I impair 

discipline and subordination in the army by my 

pardons and respites, but it makes me 

rested, after a day's hard work, if I can find 

He united in his nature the rugged endurance of the oak, with the 
yielding grace and humility of the willow. — C. F. Burdick. 



Il6 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

some good excuse for saving a man's life ; and I go 
to bed happy as I think how joyous the signing of 
my name makes him and his family and his friends." 



REFUSAL TO PARDON A MAN FOR 
IMPORTING SLAVES. 

{Reply to Mr. Alley, who read a petition for the man's 
pardon.) 

" You know my weakness is to be, if possible, too 

easily moved by appeals for mercy ; and, if this 

man were guilty of the foulest murder that 

1 3 the arm of man could perpetrate, I might 
forgive him on such an appeal; but the man who 
could go to Africa, and rob her of her children, and 
sell them into interminable bondage, with no other 
motive than that which is furnished by dollars and 
cents, is so much worse than the most depraved 
murderer that he can never receive pardon at my 
hands." 



PROCLAMATION OF THANKSGIVING DAY. 

{Issued October j, iS6j) 

"The year that is drawing toward its close has 

been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and 

healthful skies. To these bounties, which 

3 are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone 

History furnishes scarcely a parallel to the character of this greatest 
of reformers. — /F^/o 1 Merrill. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. WJ 

to forget the source from which they come, others 
have been added, which are of so extraordinary a 
nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften 
even the heart which is habitually insensible to the 
ever-watchful Providence of Almighty God. 

" In the midst of a civil war of unequaled mag- 
nitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed 
to invite and provoke the aggression of foreign 
states, peace has been preserved with all nations, 
order has been maintained, the laws have been 
respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed 
everywhere, except in the theater of military 
conflict. 

"The needful diversion of wealth and strength 
from the fields of peaceful industry to the national 
defense has not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or 
the ship. 

" The ax has enlarged the borders of our settle- 
ments, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as 
of the precious metals, have yielded even 
more abundantly than heretofore. Popula- 
tion has steadily increased, notwithstanding the 
waste that has been made by the camp, the siege, 
and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the 
consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, 
is permitted to expect continuance of years with 
large increase of freedom. 

" No human council hath devised, nor hath any 
mortal hand worked out, these great things. They 
are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, 

When all seemed dark — not a ray of sunshine, or even the faintest 
flicker of a star could be seen penetrating the political firmament — 
he stood undisturbed. — Lewis H. Steiner. 



Il8 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath 
nevertheless remembered mercy. 

" It seemed to me fit and proper that they should 
be solemnly, reverentially, and gratefully acknowl- 
edged as with one heart and voice, by the whole 
American people. 

"I recommend too, that, while offering up the 
ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliv- 
erances and blessings, they do also, with 
humble penitence for our national perverse- 
ness and disobedience, commend to His tender 
care all those who have become widows, orphans, 
mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil 
strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and 
fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty 
hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to 
restore it, as soon as may be consistent with divine 
purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, 
tranquillity, and union." 



"THE REBELLION MUST DWINDLE AND 
DIE." 

(Letter to Gemral Rosecrans, Chattanooga, Tenn., 
October 4, iS6j.) 

" If we can hold Chattanooga and East Tennes- 
see, I think the rebellion must dwindle and die. I 

understand the main body of the army is 

l86 3 \u „ ij 

very near you — so near that you could 

Mr. Lincoln's part in subduing the Rebellion will be better appre- 
ciated as time clears away the mist of race prejudice and the fogs of 
political intrigues. — Bat. Fa ley Pvcrc. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 119 

' board at home,' so to speak, and menace or attack 
him any day. Would not the doing of this be your 
best mode of counteracting his raids on your com- 
munications ? But this is not an order." 



A PERPLEXING COMPOUND— AFFAIRS IN 
MISSOURI. 

(Letter to Hon. Charles D. Drake, October 3, iS6j.) 

" We are in civil war. In such cases there is a 
main question ; but in this case that question is a 
perplexing compound, union and slavery. 
3 It thus becomes a question, not of two 
sides merely, but at least four sides even among 
those who are for the Union, saying nothing of 
those who are against it. 

" Thus, those who are for the Union with, but 
not without slavery ; those for it without, but not 
with; those for it with or without, but prefer it 
with ; and those for it with or without, but prefer it 
without. Among these, again, is a subdivision of 
those who are for gradual, but not for immediate, 
and those who are for immediate, but not for 
gradual, extinction of slavery. 

" It is easy to conceive that all these shades of 
opinion, and even more, may be sincerely enter- 
He fell in the very height of glory. Just re-established in the 
presidential chair by the overwhelming choice of his countrymen, 
rising into the profound respect of the civilized world, permitted to 
see his long watchings and toils crowned with success.—; John E. 
Todd. 



120 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

tained by honest and truthful men ; yet all being 
for the Union, by reason of these differences, each 
will prefer a different way of sustaining the Union. 
At once sincerity is questioned and motives are 
assailed. 

" Actual war coming, blood grows hot and blood 
is spilled ; thought is forced from all channels into 

confusion ; deception breeds and thrives, 

l86 3 CJ A - A • , 

confidence dies, and universal suspicion 

reigns. Each man feels an impulse to kill his 

neighbor, last he be first killed by him ; revenge 

and retaliation follow, and all this, as before said, 

may be among honest men only. But this is not 

all ; every foul bird comes abroad and every dirty 

reptile rises up. These add crime to confusion. 

Strong measures, deemed indispensable, but harsh 

at best, such men make worse by maladministration. 

" Murders for old grudges and murders for pelf 
proceed under any cloak that will best cover for the 
occasion. These causes amply account for what 
has occurred in Missouri. 

" The evils now complained of were quite as prev- 
alent under Fremont, Hunter, Halleck, and Curtis 
as under Schofield. 

" Without disparaging any, I affirm with confi- 
dence that no commander of that department has, 
in proportion to his means, done better than 
General Schofield." 

It was his task, as it is every man's, to hew from out a mass of 
shapeless stuff a name, a character, anil influence. Hut how many 
find their marble ready and their tools at hand ? It was not so with 
him. He was obliged to quarry his material and to fashion his tools. 
— John W. ChaJy 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 121 

HIS MOTHER'S PRAYERS. 

( Words uttered to a friend.) 

" I remember her prayers, and they have always 
followed me. They have clung to me all my life." 



LETTER TO GENERAL HALLECK, 
OCTOBER 1 6, 1863. 

" If General Meade can now attack him on a field 

no more than equal for us, and will do so with all 

the skill and courage which he, his officers, 

and men possess, the honor will be his if he 

succeeds, and the blame may be mine if he fails." 



ADDRESS ON THE BATTLEFIELD OF 
GETTYSBURG. 

(At the dedication of the cemetery, November /p, iS6j.) 

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers 
brought forth on this continent a new nation, con- 
ceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition 
that all men are created equal. 

With a trusting, noble, fearless heart he had never hesitated to 
mingle with the people. He had gone to the front, and made 
himself accessible to all at home. He had shown himself ready 
to answer every reasonable summons, and was not afraid of any 
living man. — A. S. Patlon. 



122 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing 
whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and 
so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a 
great battlefield of that war. We have come to 
dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting 
place for those who here gave their lives that that 
nation might live. It is altogether fitting and 
proper that we should do this. 

" But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — 
we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this 
ground. The brave men, living and dead, who 
struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our 
poor power to add or detract. The world will little 
note, nor long remember what we say here, but it 
can never forget what they did here. It is for us 
the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the 
unfinished work which they who fought here have 
thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to 
be here dedicated to the great task remaining before 
us — that from these honored dead we take increased 
devotion to that cause for which they gave the last 
full measure of devotion — that we here highly 
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — 
that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth 
of freedom — and that government of the people, by 
the people, for the people, shall not perish from the 
earth." 



President Lincoln displayed a character of so much integrity, sin- 
cerity, and straightforwardness, and, at the same time, of so much 
kindness, that if anyone could have been able to alleviate the pain 
and animosity which have prevailed during the Civil War, I be- 
lieve President Lincoln was the man to have done it. — Lord John 
Russtll. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 123 

ASKED GOD FOR VICTORY AT 
GETTYSBURG. 

(7b General Sickles, when he asked Mr. Lincoln what he 
thought of Gettysburg) 

" I had no fears of Gettysburg, and if you really 
want to know I tell you why. 

" In the stress and pinch of the campaign there, 
I went to my room, and got down on my knees and 
prayed Almighty God for victory at Gettysburg. 

" I told Him that this was His country, and the 
war was His war, but that we really couldn't stand 
another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville. 

"And then and there I made a solemn vow with 
my Maker that if he would stand by the boys at 
Gettysburg I would stand by Him. And He did, 
and I will. 

"After this, I don't know how it was, and it is not 
for me to explain, but, somehow or other, a sweet 
comfort crept into my soul, that God Al- 
mighty had taken the whole thing into His 
own hands, and we were bound to win at Gettys- 
burg. 

" No ; General Sickles, I had no fears of Gettys- 
burg, and that is the why." 

I know that Mr. Lincoln, as President of the United States, war- 
ranted the hope that in the hour of victory, and in the triumph of 
victory, he would have shown that wise forbearance and that gener- 
ous consideration which would have added tenfold luster to the fame 
that he had already acquired amid the varying fortunes of the war.— 
Sir George Grey. 



124 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

CONTINUED DEPENDENCE ON THE 

ARMY AND NAVY. 
{Third annual Message to Congress, December 8, 1863.) 

" In the midst of other cares, however important, 
we must not lose sight of the fact that the war 
power is still our main reliance. To that 
power alone can we look, yet for a time, to 
give confidence to the people in the contested re- 
gions that the insurgent power will not again over- 
run them. Until that confidence shall be established, 
little can be done anywhere for what is called recon- 
struction. Hence our chiefest care must still be 
directed to the army and navy, who have thus far 
borne their harder part so nobly and well. 

"And it maybe esteemed fortunate that, in giving 
the greatest efficiency to these indispensable arms, 
we do also honorably recognize the gallant men, 
from commander to sentinel, who compose them, 
and to whom, more than to others, the world must 
stand indebted for the home of freedom, disen- 
thralled, regenerated, enlarged, and perpetuated." 



PLEA FOR THE COLORED PEOPLE. 

{Letter, January II, 1864, to Michael Hahn, governor- 
elect of Louisiana.) 

" I congratulate you on having fixed your name 
in history as the first Free State Governor of Loui- 
siana. Now you are about to have a con- 
vention, which, among other things, will 



I am sure, as millions have said, that, take him for all in all, we 
never shall look upon his like again. — J. IV. Forney. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 25 

probably define the elective franchise, I barely sug- 
gest, for your private consideration, whether some of 
the colored people may not be let in, as, for instance, 
the very intelligent, and especially those who have 
fought gallantly in our ranks. 

" They would probably help, in some trying time 
to come, to keep the jewel of liberty in the family 
of freedom." 



U. S. GRANT COMMISSIONED LIEUTEN- 
ANT GENERAL. 

(Remarks at the presentation of the commission, 
March p, 1864.) 

" The nation's appreciation of what you have 
done, and its reliance upon you for what remains 
to be done in the existing great struggle, 
are now presented with this commission, 
constituting you Lieutenant General in the Army of 
the United States. With this high honor devolves 
upon you also a corresponding responsibility. 

"As the country herein trusts you, so under God, 
it will sustain you. I scarcely need to add that, 
with what I here speak for the nation, goes my own 
hearty personal concurrence." 



Some of the grandest nights of oratory the world has ever wit- 
nessed have been manifested on the great occasions which called 
men together during our great war, but none of them have so taken 
the popular heart as the homely phrases of Abraham Lincoln. — 
Richard Eddy. 



126 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 



GENERAL GRANT'S REPLY. 

" I accept this commission, with gratitude for the 
high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble 
armies that have fought on so many fields 
for our common country, it will be my 
earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expecta- 
tions. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities 
now devolving on me, and I know if they are met, 
it will be due to those armies ; and above all, to the 
favor of that Providence which leads both nations 
and men." 



GOD BLESS THE WOMEN OF AMERICA. 

{Speech at a Ladies' Fair for the benefit of the soldiers, 
Washington, March 16, 1864.) 

" I appear to say but a word This extraordinary 

war in which we are engaged falls heavily upon all 

classes of people, but the most heavily upon 

the soldiers. For it has been said, 'All that 

a man hath will he give for his life,' and, while all 

contribute of their substance, the soldier puts his 

life at stake, and often yields it up in his country's 

cause. The highest merit, then, is due the soldier. 

" In this extraordinary war extraordinary devel- 



By patient culture, step by step he rose 

li in the rude cabin <>f the humblest poor ; 

[ng from yeai t<> jreai with Life's stern foes. 
Till Victory opened wide her crystal door. 

—John IVtstall. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 27 

opments have manifested themselves, such as have 
not been seen in former wars ; and, among these 
manifestations, nothing has been more remarkable 
than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers 
and their families, and the chief agents in these fairs 
are the women of America ! 

" I am not accustomed to the use of language of 
eulogy; I have never studied the art of paying 
compliments to women ; but I must say that, if all 
that has been said by orators and poets since the 
creation of the world in praise of women were ap- 
plied to the women of America, it would not do 
them justice for their conduct during the war. 

" I will close by saying, God bless the women of 
America ! " 



PARDON FOR A SLEEPING SENTRY. 

(Remarks made by Mr. Lincoln to a friend as he read the 
pardon^ 

[Rev. Newman Hall of England said, in a sermon 
preached after the President's death, that the dead 
body of this youth was found among the 
slain on the battlefield of Fredericksburg, 
wearing next to his heart a photograph of his pre- 
server, beneath which the grateful fellow had writ- 
ten, " God bless President Lincoln."] 

Our hearts are sad, our eyes are dim ; 
We hoped long years of rest for him, 
To enjoy the peace for which he wrought, 
The peace with his own life-blood bought. 

—S. G. W. Benjamin, 



128 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" I could not think of going into eternity with 
the blood of the poor young man on my skirts. It 
is not to be wondered at that a boy raised 
on a farm, probably in the habit of going to 
bed at dark, should, when required to watch, fall 
asleep ; and I cannot consent to shoot him for such 
an act." 

"ALREADY TOO MANY WEEPING 
WIDOWS." 

{Reply to a general who insisted on the President signing the 
warrants for the execution of twenty-four deserters?) 

" There are already too many weeping widows 
in the United States. For God's sake, 
don't ask me to add to the number, for I 
won't do it." 



REPLY TO A PLEA FOR THE LIFE OF A 
SOLDIER. 

" Well, I think the boy can do us more good 
above the ground than under it." 



"GOD ALONE CAN CLAIM IT." 

(Letter to A. G. Hodges, April 4, 1S64.) 

" I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. 
I claim not to have controlled events, but 
confess plainly that events have con- 
trolled me. 

Pure in life and motive, inflexible in his purpose to do right as he 
understood it. — John B. Gough. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 29 

" Now, at the end of three years' struggle, the 
nation's condition is not what either party or any 
man devised or expected. God alone can claim it. 
Whither it is tending seems plain. 

" If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, 
and wills also, that we of the North, as well as you 
of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in 
that wrong, impartial history will find therein new 
causes to attest and revere the justice and goodness 
of God." 



INTEREST IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 

{To Hon. Elisha H. Allen, Envoy Extraordinary from the 
Islands, April 11, 1864.) 

" In every light in which the state of the Hawaiian 
Islands can be contemplated, it is an object of pro- 
found interest for the United States. Vir- 
tually it was once a colony. It is now a 
near and intimate neighbor. It is a haven of shelter 
and refreshment for our merchants, fishermen, sea- 
men, and other citizens, when, on their lawful 
occasions, they are navigating the eastern seas and 
oceans. Its people are free, and its laws, language, 
and religion are largely the fruit of our own teaching 
and example. The distinguished part which you, 
Mr. Minister, have acted in the history of that 
interesting country is well known here. It gives 
me pleasure to assure you of my sincere desire to 

No American president had ever spoken words like these to the 
American people. America never had a president who found such 
words in the depths of his heart. — Carl Schurz. 



130 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

do what I can to render now your sojourn in the 
United States agreeable to yourself, satisfactory to 
your sovereign, and beneficial to the Hawaiian 
people." 

PRAISE FOR THE COLORED SOLDIER. 

{Letter to General James S. Wadsworth, 1864.) 

" How to better the condition of the colored race 
has long been a study which has attracted my seri- 
ous and careful attention ; hence I think 
I am clear and decided as to what course 
I shall pursue in the premises, regarding it as a 
religious duty, as the nation's guardian of these 
people who have so heroically vindicated their man- 
hood on the battlefield, where, in assisting to save 
the life of the Republic, they have demonstrated 
their right to the ballot, which is but the humane 
protection of the flag they have so fearlessly de- 
fended." 



SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF A FAIR. 

(For the benefit of the U. S. Sanitary Commission, Baltimore, 
April 18, 1S64) 

" Calling to mind that we are in Baltimore, we 

cannot fail to note that the world moves. Looking 

upon these many people I see assembled 

here, to serve as they best may the soldiers 

II'- rote, not like a blazing comet that rushes through the sky and 
is gone, but like a star, gradually rising with increasing luster, until 
he covered the whole nation with a sheen of glory. — S. L. Yourtee. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 131 

of the Union, it at once occurs to me that, three 
years ago, the same soldiers could not so much as 
pass through Baltimore. The change from then till 
now is both great and gratifying. I would say, 
Blessings upon the men who have wrought the 
change, and the fair women who strive to reward 
them for it. 

" When the war began, three years ago, neither 
party nor any man expected it would last till now. 
Each looked for the end, in some way, long ere 
to-day. Neither did any anticipate that domestic 
slavery would be much affected by the war. But 
here we are : the war has not ended, and slavery 
has been much affected — how much need not now 
be recounted. So true it is that man proposes and 
God disposes. 

"The world has never had a good definition of 
the word liberty, and the American people, just 
now, are much in want of one. We all de- 
clare for liberty, but in using the same word 
we do not all mean the same thing. With some the 
word liberty may mean for each man to do as he 
pleases with himself and the product of his labor; 
while to others the same word may mean for some 
men to do as they please with other men, and the 
product of other men's labor. 

" Here are two not only different, but incom- 
patible things, called by the same name — liberty. 
And it follows that each of these things is, by the 

He makes his father's home, helps build his house and fence his 
farm, and immortalizes that humble form of labor which renders the 
title of " rail-splitter " a patent of America's nobility. — Miss Emma 
Hardinge, 



132 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

respective parties, called by two different and incom- 
patible names — liberty and tyranny. 

" The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's 
throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a 
liberator ; while the wolf denounces him for 
the same act, as the destroyer of liberty, es- 
pecially as the sheep was a black one. Plainly, the 
sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition 
of the word liberty, and precisely the same differ- 
ence prevails to-day among us human creatures, 
even in the North, and all professing to love liberty. 

"At the beginning of the war, and for some time, 
the use of colored troops was not contemplated ; 
and how the change of purpose was wrought, I will 
not now take time to explain. Upon a clear con- 
struction of duty, I resolved to turn that element of 
strength to account; and I am responsible for it to 
the American people, to the Christian world, to 
history, and on my final account to God." 



CONSIDERS GRANT VIGILANT AND 
SELF-RELIANT. 

{Letter to Lieutenant General Grant, April jo, 1864.) 

" Not expecting to see you before the spring cam- 
paign opens, I wish to express in this way my en- 
tire satisfaction with what you have done up 
to this time, so far as I understand it. The 

For the flights of impassioned oratory, his emotional nature was 
too sluggish, or too carefully repressed ; but in tenderness and pathos, 
he felt his way to the heart with a success that genius might envy. — 
William Bitiiuy. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 133 

particulars of your plans I neither know nor seek 
to know. You are vigilant and self-reliant ; and, 
pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude any re- 
straints or constraints upon you. 

" While I am very anxious that any great disaster 
or capture of our men in great numbers shall be 
avoided, I know that these points are less likely to 
escape your attention than they would mine. If 
there be anything wanting, which is within my 
power to give, do not fail to let me know it. 

"And now, with a brave army, and a just cause, 
may God sustain you." 



RESTORING THE UNION THE SOLE PUR- 
POSE OF THE WAR. 

" There have been men base enough to propose 
to me to return to slavery the black warriors of Port 
Hudson and Olustee, and thus win the re- 
spect of the masters they fought. Should I 
do so, I should deserve to be damned in time and 
eternity. Come what will, I will keep my faith with 
friend and foe. 

" My enemies pretend I am now carrying on this 
war for the sole purpose of abolition. So long as I 
am President, it shall be carried on for the sole pur- 
pose of restoring the Union. 

" But no human power can subdue this rebellion 

His constant touch and sympathy with the people inspired the 
confidence which enabled him to command and wield all the forces 
of the republic. — Chauncey M. Dej>ew, 



134 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

without the use of the emancipation policy and 
every other policy calculated to weaken the moral 
and physical forces of the rebellion." 



ADVICE TO AN OFFICER WHO HAD BEEN 
COURT-MARTIALED FOR QUARRELING. 

" No man resolved to make the most of himself 
can spare time for personal contention. Still less 
can he afford to take all the consequences, 
including the vitiating of his temper and the 
loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which 
you can show no more than equal right ; and yield 
lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give 
your path to a dog than be bitten by him in con- 
testing for the right ; even killing the dog would not 
cure the bite." 



"GOD BLESS ALL THE CHURCHES." 

(To a committee from the Methodist Conference, held in 
Philadelphia, May, 1864.) 

" Nobly sustained as the government has been by 

all the churches, I would utter nothing which might, 

in the least, appear invidious against any. 

Yet without this it may fairly be said that 

He was a faithful husband and a kind father. All his virtues were 
homebred, and a domestic sweetness flavored his public acts. He 
was too much a father to conduct the pitiless discipline of an army. 
If a tired boy fell asleep on guard, lie had not the heart to have him 
shot. — Geo. L. Chanty, 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 35 

the Methodist Episcopal Church, not less devoted 
than the rest, is, by its greater numbers, the most 
important of all. 

"It is no fault in others that the Methodist 
Church sends more soldiers to the field, more nurses 
to the hospital, and more prayers to heaven than 
any. 

"God bless the Methodist Church ! bless all the 
churches, and blessed be God ! who, in this, our 
great trial, giveth us the churches." 



PROCLAMATION OF THANKSGIVING AND 
PRAYER. 

(To friends of Union and Liberty, May g, 1864.) 

" Enough is known of army operations, within 

the last five days, to claim our special gratitude to 

God ; while what remains undone demands 

our most sincere prayers to and reliance 

upon Him, without whom all effort is vain. 

" I recommend that all patriots at their homes, 
in their places of public worship, and wherever they 
may be, unite in common thanksgiving and prayer 
to Almighty God." 



The Martyr President seals with his blood the emancipation of a 
race, and grasping four millions of broken coffles, ascends to the 
bosom of his God, thus consecrating the land of Washington as the 
home of the emigrant and the asylum of the oppressed of every clime 
and of all races of men. — Galasha A. Grow. 



136 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

RESPONSE TO A SERENADE AT THE 
WHITE HOUSE. 

(May ij, 1864, in honor of the victory won by Grant and his 
army.) 

" I am indeed very grateful to the brave men who 

have been struggling with the enemy in the field, 

to their noble commanders, who have 

T 9kf\A 

directed them, and especially to our Maker. 
While we are grateful to all the brave men and 
officers for the events of the past few days, we 
should, above all, be very grateful to Almighty 
God, who gives us victory. 

" There is enough yet before us requiring all loyal 
men and patriots to perform their share of the 
labor and follow the example of the modest general 
at the head of our armies, and sink all personal 
consideration for the sake of the country." 



A PESENTIMENT. 

(Remarks to Mrs. Harriet Beechcr Stowe) 

" Whichever way it ends, I have the impres- 
sion that I shall not last long after it is 

1864 

over. 

He was not only the head of an administration which shaped events, 
the mightiest of the century, but its balance wheel also. The Anu-ri- 

( an people owe to him thai the important itepcinthe war for the 

preservation of the Union were taken just at the fitting moment.— • 
Eugatf Hale. 




Photo by Coe, Washing-ton. 



CHAIR IN WHICH PRESIDENT LINCOLN WAS SEATED WHEN 
ASSASSINATED. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 37 

WOULD WILLINGLY EXCHANGE PLACES 
WITH THE SOLDIER. 

( To Hon. Schuyler Colfax, upon receiving bad news from the 

army.) 

" How willingly would I exchange places to-day 
with the soldier who sleeps on the ground 
in the Army of the Potomac ! " 



STORY-TELLING WAS A RELIEF. 

{To a Congressman who objected to the President telling a 
story when he had important business to present.) 

" You cannot be more anxious than I am con- 
stantly ; and I say to you now, that if 
it were not for this occasional vent, I 
should die." 



"FIRM BELIEF IN AN OVERRULING 
PROVIDENCE." 

(Interview with Rev. J. T. Duryea of New York.) 

" If it were not for my firm belief in an over- 
ruling Providence, it would be difficult for me, in 
the midst of such complications of affairs, 
to keep my reason on its seat. But I am 

I think I never saw a face from which it was so easy to get a like- 
ness that all would recognize, and yet would so little represent the 
man in his entireness. One artist only in a thousand could fairly 
represent it. — S. C. Thrall. 



138 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

confident that the Almighty has His plans and will 
work them out ; and, whether we see it or not, they 
will be the wisest and best for us. I have always 
taken counsel of Him, and refer to Him my plans, 
and have never adopted a course of proceeding 
without being assured, as far as I could be, of His 
approbation. To be sure, He has not conformed 
to my desires, or else we should have been out of 
our trouble long ago. 

" On the other hand, His will does not seem to 
agree with the wish of our enemy over there [point- 
ing across the Potomac]. He stands the judge 
between us, and we ought to be willing to accept 
His decisions. We have reason to anticipate that 
it will be favorable to us, for our cause is right." 



ANYTHING TO STRENGTHEN AND SUS- 
TAIN GENERAL GRANT. 

{Answer to an invitation to attend a meeting in New York 
City, June 4, 1864, to express gratitude to General 
Grant and the soldiers under his command?) 

11 I approve, nevertheless, of whatever may tend 

to strengthen and sustain General Grant and 
1864 .. . , . , . . .. 

the noble armies now under his direction. 

"My previous high estimate of General Grant 
has been maintained and heightened by what has 
occurred in the remarkable campaign he is now con- 
He seized intuitively upon the vital point of every question, clearly 
stated the real issue, ranged all subordinate facts round this, and 
summarily discarded everything which had no relation to it. — Mar- 
vin R. Vincent. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 39 

ducting, while the magnitude and difficulty of the 
task before him do not prove less than I expected. 

" He and his brave soldiers are now in the midst 
of their great trial, and I trust that at your meeting 
you will so shape your good words that they may 
turn to men and guns, moving to his and their 
support." 

SECOND NOMINATION FOR THE 
PRESIDENCY. 

{Response to an address by George W. Dennison, President of 
the National Republican Convention at Baltimore, noti- 
fying Mr. Lincoln of his nomination. The committee 
met at the White House on the gth of fune, 1864.) 

" I will neither conceal my gratification, nor 

restrain the expression of my gratitude, that the 

Union people throughout this country, in 

the continued effort to save and advance the 

nation, have deemed me not unworthy to remain in 

my present position." 



TO A DELEGATION OF THE NATIONAL 
UNION LEAGUE. 

{At the White House, fune g, 1864.) 

" I can only say, in response to the kind remarks 
of your chairman, as I suppose, that I am very 
grateful for the renewed confidence which 
has been accorded to me both by the Con- 
He looked wide, and he looked deep, and he looked all around, 
and he looked inside and outside, and he looked many times before 
he came to a conclusion. — C. M. Butler. 



140 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

vention and by the National League. I am not 
insensible to all the personal compliment there is in 
this, and yet I do not allow myself to believe that 
any but a small portion of it is to be appropriated 
as a personal compliment; that really the conven- 
tion and the Union League assembled with a higher 
view — that of taking care of the interests of the 
country for the present and the great future — and 
that the part I am entitled to appropriate as a 
compliment is only that part which I may lay hold 
of as being the opinion of the Convention and of 
the League, that I am not entirely unworthy to be 
intrusted with the place which I have occupied for 
the last three years. 

" But I do not allow myself to suppose that 
either the Convention or the League have concluded 
to decide that I am either the greatest or best man 
in America, but rather they have concluded that it 
is not best to swap horses while crossing the river, 
and have further concluded that I am not so poor a 
horse that they might not make a botch of it in 
trying to swap." 



DISPATCH TO GENERAL GRANT, JUNE 
15, 1864. 

"Have just read your dispatch of (1.30 P. M.) 
yesterday. I begin to see it; you will suc- 
ceed. God bless you all ! " 

He was one of the people. He was in sympathy with them. He 
would never plant a thorn unnecessarily in any man's breast. He 
lai<l his large heart alongside that of the people, and every pulsation 
of the one found a responsive thrill in the other. — A'»V//</r./ S. Field. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 141 

"GOING THROUGH ON THIS LINE, IF IT 
TAKES THREE YEARS MORE." 

{Speech at a Philadelphia Fair for the benefit of the soldiers, 
[une 18, 1864.) 

"War, at the best, is terrible, and this war of ours, 
in its magnitude and its duration is one of the most 
terrible. It has deranged business totally 
in many localities, and partially in all locali- 
ties. It has destroyed property and ruined homes ; 
it has produced a national debt and taxation unpre- 
cedented, at least in this country ; it has carried 
mourning to almost every home, until it can almost 
be said that the ' heavens are hung in black.' 

"Yet the war continues, and several relieving co- 
incidents have accompanied it from the very begin- 
ning, which have not been known, as I understand, 
or have any knowledge of, in any former wars in the 
history of the world. 

"The sanitary commission, with all its benevolent 
labors ; the Christian commission, with all its Chris- 
tian and benevolent labors, and the various places, 
arrangements, so to speak, and institutions, have 
contributed to the comfort and relief of the soldiers. 

" It is a pertinent question, often asked in the 
mind privately, and from one to the other: ' When 
is the war to end ? ' Surely I feel as deep an inter- 
est in this question as any other can, but I do not 

He was murdered at the very hour when he was bending the 
energies of his clear head and generous heart to the great work of 
healing the wounds of the nation and restoring the breaches made by 
the Rebellion.— Robert R. Booth. 



142 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 



wish to name a day, a month, or a year when it is to 
end. I do not wish to run any risk of seeing the 
time come without our being ready for the end, for 
fear of disappointment because the time has come 
and not the end. 

" We accepted this war for an object, a worthy 
object, and the war will end when that object is 
attained. Under God, / hope it never will end until 
that time ! 

" Speaking of the present campaign, General 
Grant is reported to have said, ' I am going through 
on this line, if it takes all summer.' This 
war has taken three years ; it was begun, or 
accepted, upon the line of restoring the national 
authority over the whole national domain ; and for 
the American people, as far as my knowledge en- 
ables me to speak, I say we are going through on 
this line, if it takes three years more." 



ACCEPTANCE OF THE NOMINATION FOR 
THE PRESIDENCY. 

{Letter, dated June 27, 1864, to Hon. Wtn. Dennison, Presi- 
dent Republican National Convention.) 

"The nomination is gratefully accepted, as the 

resolutions of the Convention, called the platform, 

are heartily approved. I am especially 

4 gratified that the soldiers and seamen were 

His fullness of anecdote, so effective in quickening the pulse and 
cheering the heart, served a most valuable ulterior end, in compassing 
all the elements of a forcible argument, and carrying deep conviction 
to his auditory. — A. A. .'/. • 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. I43 

not forgotten by the Convention, as they forever 
must, and will, be remembered by the grateful 
country for whose salvation they devote their lives." 



"OUR CAUSE IS JUST, AND GOD IS ON 
OUR SIDE." 

{Reply to a company of clergymen.') 

" My hope of success in this great and terrible 

struggle rests on that immutable foundation, the 

justice and goodness of God. And when 
1864 , . , 

events are very threatening and prospects 

very dark, I still hope in some way, which man can- 
not see, all will be well in the end, because our cause 
is just, and God is on our side." 



REGARDING PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. 

The following paper was sent by the President, 
July 18, 1864, to the Confederate commissioners at 
Niagara Falls, who were empowered to negotiate 
peace : 

" Any propositions which embrace the restoration 

of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the 

abandonment of slavery, and which come 

4 by and with an authority that can control 

His noble qualities inspired generous confidence and commanded 
general respect, and his successful administration will be evidence, in 
all time to come, of his own worth and the wisdom of his measures. 
— Lewis Cass. 



144 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

the armies now at war against the United States, 
will be received and considered by the Executive 
Government of the United States, and will be met 
by liberal terms on other substantial and collateral 
points ; and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have 
safe conduct both ways." 



TO A COMMITTEE FROM THE GENERAL 

SYNOD OF THE LUTHERAN 

CHURCH, AUGUST, 1864. 

" I welcome here the representatives of the Evan- 
gelical Lutherans of the United States. I accept, 
with gratitude, their assurance of the sym- 
pathy and support of that enlightened, in- 
fluential, and loyal class of my fellow-citizens in an 
important crisis, which involves, in my judgment, 
not only the civil and religious liberties of our own 
dear land, but in a large degree the civil and re- 
ligious liberties of mankind in many countries, and 
through many ages. 

" You well know, gentlemen, and the world knows, 
how reluctantly I accepted this issue of battle 
forced upon me, on my advent to this place, by 
the internal enemies of our country. You all may 
recollect that in taking up the sword thus forced 
into our hands, this government appealed to the 

He had found slavery in the Constitution that he had sworn to 
maintain ; as president, he had not the right, therefore, to touch it. 
Hut this same Constitution gave the president the right to seue the 
property of the enemy, ami to take all measures necessary for the 
suppression of the Rebellion. — EJouarJ Laboulayt. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 145 

prayers of the pious and the good, and declared that 
it placed its whole dependence upon the favor of 
God. 

" I now humbly and reverently, in your presence, 
reiterate the acknowledgment of that dependence, 
not doubting that if it shall please the 
4 Divine Being who determines the destinies 
of nations, this shall remain a united people. They 
will, humbly seeking the Divine guidance, make 
their prolonged national existence a source of new 
benefits to themselves and their successors, and to 
all classes and conditions of mankind." 



•HOLD ON WITH A BULLDOG GRIP." 

{Dispatch to General Grant, August 17, 1864) 

" I have seen your dispatch expressing your 
unwillingness to break your hold where you 
4 are. Neither am I willing. Hold on with 
a bulldog grip." 

MR. LINCOLN SEEKS RELAXATION. 

Seeking relaxation from the engrossing cares 

which confronted him night and day, Mr. Lincoln 

remarked to Schuyler Colfax, as he went to 

4 the theater one evening after receiving in- 

His words were clothed with the force of the law ; his hand was 
upon the secret spring of a nation's energies ; his opinions were 
scanned and weighed as the foreshadowing of the settled policy of a 
re-integrated republic. On his will and purpose largely depended the 
.peace of the world. — A. N. Little John. 



I46 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

telligence of what he regarded as reverses to the 
army of General Grant in the Wilderness : 

" People may think strange of it, but I must have 
some relief from this terrible anxiety, or it will kill 
me." 



ANSWER TO AN APPLICATION FOR 
PARDON. 

The following reply was made by Mr. Lincoln to 
an application for the pardon of a soldier who had 
shown himself very brave in war, and had been 
severely wounded, but afterward deserted : 

"Did you say he was once badly wounded? 
Then, as the Scriptures say that in the shed- 
ding of blood is the remission of sins, I 
guess we'll have to let him off this time." 



"STAND FAST TO THE UNION AND THE 
OLD FLAG." 

(Speech to the 148th Ohio Infantry Regiment.) 

" It is vain and foolish to arraign this man or 

that for the part he has taken or has not taken, and 

to hold the Government responsible for his 
1864 T .... . 

acts. In no administration can there be 

Inured to hardships, poverty, and toil, 
He coolly parried each successive foil ; 
Shirking no duty, shrinking from no pain, 
So Truth and Altrcy might supremely reign. 

— Mrs. Caroline A. Hayden. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. I47 

perfect equality of action and uniform satisfaction 
rendered by all. 

" But this Government must be preserved in spite 
of the acts of any man or set of men. It is worthy 
your every effort. Nowhere in the world is 
presented a government of so much liberty 
and equality. To the humblest and poorest among 
us are held out the highest privileges and positions. 
The present moment finds me at the White House, 
yet there is as good a chance for your children as 
there was for my father's. 

"Again I admonish you not to be turned from 
your stern purpose of defending our beloved coun- 
try and its free institutions by any arguments urged 
by ambitious and designing men, but stand fast to 
the Union and the old flag." 



"WE WILL CARRY OUT THE WORK WE 
HAVE COMMENCED." 

{Speech to the 164th Ohio Infantry Regiment, September, 
1864) 

" There is more involved in this contest than is 

realized by everyone. There is involved in this 

struggle the question whether your children 

and my children shall enjoy the privileges 

we have enjoyed. I say this in order to impress 

" Forgive them, for they know not what they do ! " 

He said, and so went shriven to his fate : 
Unknowing went, that generous heart and true, 

Even while he spake the slayer lay in wait. 

— Edmund C. S ted man. 



I48 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

upon you, if you are not already so impressed, that 
no small matter should divert you from your great 
purpose. There may be some inequalities in the 
practical application of our system. It is fair that 
each man shall pay taxes in exact proportion to the 
value of his property ; but if we should wait before 
collecting a tax to adjust the taxes upon each man 
in exact proportion with every other man, we should 
never collect any tax at all. 

"There may be mistakes made. Sometimes 
things may be done wrong, while the officers of the 
Government do all they can to prevent mis- 
takes ; but I beg of you, as citizens of this 
great republic, not to let your minds be carried off 
from the great work we have before us. 

" The struggle is too large for you to be diverted 
from it by any small matter. When you return to 
your homes, rise up to the dignity of a generation of 
men worthy of a free government, and we will carry 
out the work we have commenced." 



INDEBTED TO THE CHRISTIAN PEOPLE. 

{Letter to Mrs. Eliza P. Gurtiey, September jo, 1864.) 

" I have not forgotten, probably never shall, the 

very impressive occasion when yourself and friends 

visited me on a Sabbath forenoon two years 
1864 J 

ago. Nor shall your kind letter, written 

He was the greatest president in American history, because in a 
time of revolution he comprehended the spirit of American institu- 
tions. — Lyman A/'/'ott. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 149 

nearly a year later, ever be forgotten. In all, it has 
been your purpose to strengthen my reliance in God. 
I am much indebted to the good Christian people 
of the country for their constant prayers and 
consolations, and to no one of them more than to 
yourself. 

" The purposes of the Almighty are perfect and 
must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to 
accurately perceive them in advance. We hoped 
for a happy termination of this terrible war long 
before this, but God knows best, and has ruled 
otherwise. 

" We shall yet acknowledge His wisdom and our 
own errors therein ; meanwhile we must work ear- 
nestly in the best light He gives us, trusting that so 
working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. 
Surely He intends some great good to follow this 
almighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, 
and no mortal could stay. 

" Your people, the Friends, have had, and are 
having, very great trials. On principles and faith 
opposed to both war and oppression, they 
can only practically oppose oppression by 
war. In this hard dilemma, some have chosen one 
horn and some the other. For those appealing to 
me on conscientious grounds I have done and shall 
do the best I could and can in my own conscience, 
under my oath to the law. That you believe this I 

No college claims him as its alumnus. His alma mater was fixed 
by Providence amid the woods and waters of the then far West. His 
days were spent in hard and ill-remunerating toil, and few indeed 
were the hours that could be spared for what is called intellectual 
improvement. — J. J. Carruthers. 



l$0 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

doubt not, and believe I shall still receive for my 
country and myself your earnest prayers to our 
Father in heaven." 



"THE BEST GIFT WHICH GOD HAS 
GIVEN MAN." 

{Reply to a committee of loyal colored people of Baltimore, 
who presented the President with a Bible, October, 1864.) 

" 1 can only say now, as I have often said before, 

that it has always been a sentiment with me that all 

, mankind should be free. So far as I have 
1864 

been able, or so far as came within my 
sphere, I have always acted as I believed was right 
and just, and have done all I could for the good of 
mankind. I have in letters and documents sent 
forth from this office expressed myself better than I 
can now. 

" In regard to the Great Book I have only to say 
that it is the best gift which God has given man. 

" All the good from the Saviour of the world is 
communicated to us through this book. But for 
this book we could not know right from wrong. 
All those things desirable to man are contained 
in it." 



Our children shall behold his fame, 
The kindly, earnest, foreseeing man, 
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame, 
New birth of new soil, the first American. 

—fames Russell LouxU. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 151 

REGARDING MARYLAND'S PROPOSED 
NEW CONSTITUTION. 

{Letter to Henry W. Hoffman, of Maryland, 
October 18, 1S64.) 

" A convention of Maryland has formed a new 

constitution for the State ; a public meeting is 

called for this evening at Baltimore, to aid 

in securing its ratification, and you ask a 

word from me for the occasion. 

" I presume the only feature of the instrument 
about which there is serious controversy is that 
which provides for the extinction of slavery. 

" It needs not to be a secret, and I presume it is 
no secret, that I wish success to this provision. I 
desire it on every constitution ; I wish to see all 
men free. I wish the national prosperity of the 
already free, which I feel sure the extinction of 
slavery would bring. 

" I wish to see in progress of disappearing that 
only thing which could bring this nation to a civil 
war. 

" I attempt no argument. Argument upon the 
question is already exhausted by the abler, better 
informed, and more immediately interested sons of 
Maryland herself. 

" I only add that I shall be gratified exceedingly 

Pure was thy life ; its bloody close 
Has placed thee with the sons of light, 

Among the noblest host of those 
Who perished in the cause of right. 

— William C. Bryant. 



152 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

if the good people of the State shall by their votes 
ratify the new constitution." 



MARYLAND ADOPTS A CONSTITUTION 
ABOLISHING SLAVERY. 

{Response to a serenading party of loyal Mary landers, at the 
White House, October ip, 1864.) 

" Most heartily do I congratulate you and Mary- 
land, and the nation, and the world upon the event, 

1864 * regret that it did not occur two years 
sooner ; which, I am sure, would have saved 
to the nation more money than would have met all 
the private loss incident to the measure. But it has 
come at last, and I sincerely hope its friends may 
fully realize all their anticipations of good from it, 
and that its opponents may, by its effects, be agree- 
ably and profitably disappointed. 

" I am struggling to maintain the Government, 
not to overthrow it ; I am struggling especially to 
prevent others from overthrowing it. I therefore 
say that, if I shall live, I shall remain President until 
the 4th of next March, and that whoever shall be 
constitutionally elected, therefore, in November, 
shall be duly installed as President on the 4th of 
March, and that, in the interval, I shall do my 
utmost that whoever is to hold the helm for the 

The flowers which were to decorate the Easter festival were laid 
upon his coffin, and we who had hoped to go in faith to the empty 
sepulcher and sing our carols of the Resurrection, stood by a newly 
made grave, which received all that was mortal of the Chief Magis- 
trate of the land. — ll'm. A. SnizeU>. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 153 

next voyage shall start with the best possible chance 
to save the ship. 

" This is due the people both on principle and 
under the Constitution. Their will, constitutionally 

g6 expressed, is the ultimate law for all. If 
they should deliberately resolve to have 
immediate peace, even at the loss of their country 
and their liberties, I have not the power or the right 
to resist them. It is their own business, and they 
must do as they please with their own. I believe, 
however, they are still resolved to preserve their 
country and their liberty, and, in this office or out, 
I am resolved to stand by them. 

" I may add that, in this purpose to save the 
country and its liberties, no class of people seem so 
nearly unanimous as the soldiers in the field and 
seamen afloat. Do they not have the hardest of it? 
Who should quail while they do not? 

" God bless the soldiers and seamen, with all their 
brave commanders 1" 



THANKS GENERAL SHERIDAN AND HIS 
ARMY. 

{Dispatch to General P. H. Sheridan, October 22, 1864.) 

" With great pleasure I tender to you and your 

brave army the thanks of the nation and my own 

personal admiration and gratitude for the 

month's operations in the Shenandoah val- 

Abraham Lincoln, the ablest of them all ! He lived and died an 
honest man. — Rufus Hatch, 



154 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

ley, and especially for the splendid work of October 
19, 1864." 



"I THEN AND THERE CONSECRATED 
MYSELF TO CHRIST." 

(Reply to an Illinois clergyman, who asked Mr. Lincoln if he 
was a Christian!) 

"When I left Springfield, I asked the people to 
pray for me ; I was not a Christian. When I 
buried my son, the severest trial of my life, 
I was not a Christian. But when I went to 
Gettysburg, and saw the graves of thousands of our 
soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to 
Christ. I do love Jesus." 



GREATEST CREDIT DUE THE COMMON 
SOLDIER. 

{Remarks to the 189th N. Y. Infantry Regiment, 
October 24, 1864.) 

" It is said that we have the best government the 
world ever knew, and I am glad to meet you, the 
supporters of that government. To you, 
who rendered the hardest work in its sup- 
port, should be given the greatest credit. Others 

Amid the doings of the great of every clime will his deeds be 
recorded. Among the teachings of the wise will his sayings be writ- 
ten. His is a name that will not be forgotten. The living of to- 
day will tell it to the unborn, and they in turn will repeat it to the 
remotest age. — William II. II. Murray. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 55 

who are connected with it, and who occupy higher 
positions — their duties can be dispensed with ; but 
we cannot get along without your aid. While 
others differ with the administration, and, perhaps, 
honestly, the soldiers generally have sustained it ; 
they have not only fought right, but, so far as could 
be judged from their actions, they have voted right, 
and I, for one, thank you for it." 



RESPONSE TO A SERENADE BY A CLUB 
OF PENNSYLVANIANS. 

(At the White House, late on the night of the election, 
November p, 1864.) 

" I cannot, at this hour, say what has been the 
result of the election ; but whatever it may have 
been, I have no desire to modify this 
opinion, that all who have labored to-day in 
behalf of the Union organization have wrought for 
the best interests of their country and the world, 
not only for the present, but for all future ages. 

" I am thankful to God for this approval of the 
people. But, while deeply grateful for this mark of 

their confidence in me, if I know my heart, 
1864 ., . . , , . ' , 

my gratitude is free from any taint of per- 
sonal triumph. I do not impugn the motives of 

His heart was as warm, his nature as simple, his purpose as honest, 
his judgment as strong and clear, his head as cool amid all the 
grandeur and glory of the nation's palace and the shaping of the 
nation's course and policy, as they were beneath the humble roof of 
his private dwelling. — Samuel K. Lothrop. 



156 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

anyone opposed to me. It is no pleasure to me to 
triumph over anyone, but I give thanks to the Al- 
mighty for this evidence of the people's resolution 
to stand by free government and the rights of 
humanity." 



SPEECH TO CAMPAIGN CLUBS. 

{Assembled at the White House to serenade the President on 
the flight of November 10, 1864.) 

" It has long been a grave question whether any 
government, not too strong for the liberties of its 
people, can be strong enough to maintain its 
existence in great emergencies. On this 
point the present rebellion brought our government 
to a severe test, and a Presidential election, occur- 
ring in a regular course during the rebellion, added 
not a little to the strain. 

" If the loyal people united were put to the ut- 
most of their strength by the rebellion, must they 
not fail when divided and partially paralyzed 
by a political war among themselves? But 
the election was a necessity. 

" We cannot have free governments without elec- 
tions ; and if the rebellion could force us to forego 
or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim 
to have already conquered and ruined us. 

In four hours after Abraham Lincoln died, Andrew Johnson of 
Tennessee was inaugurated President of the United States. Our 
government rests upon the basis of liberty, justice, and humanity, 
and our glorious fabric will continue to stand and tower, the admira- 
tion of the world. — Charles Backman. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 157 

"The strife of the election is but human nature 
practically applied to the facts of the case. 

" Human nature will not change. In any future 
great national trial, compared with the men of this, 
we will have as weak and as strong, as silly and as 
wise, as bad and as good. Let us, therefore, study 
the incidents of this as philosophy to learn wisdom 
from, and none of them as wrongs to be revenged. 

" But the election, along with its incidental and 
undesirable strife, has done good, too. It has dem- 
onstrated that a people's government can 
sustain a national election in the midst of a 
great civil war. Until now, it has not been known 
to the world that this was a possibility. It shows, 
also, how sound and how strong we still are. It 
shows, also, to the extent yet known, that we have 
more men now than we had when the war began. 
Gold is good in its place ; but living, brave, and 
patriotic men are better than gold. 

" So long as I have been here I have not willingly 
planted a thorn in anyone's bosom. While I am 
duly sensible to the high compliment of a re-elec- 
tion, and duly grateful, as I trust, to Almighty God 
for having directed my countrymen to a right con- 
clusion, as I think, for their good, it adds nothing 
to my satisfaction that any other man may be dis- 
appointed by the result. 

" May I ask those who have not differed with me 
to join with me in this spirit toward those who 
have." 

A thousand years hence, no story, no tragedy, no epic poem will 
be filled with greater wonder or be read with deeper feeling than that 
which tells of his life and death. — Henry Watterson. 



158 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 



"ONLY MORTAL, AFTER ALL." 

{Remarks to a friend in a conversation on the Presidential 
election.) 

" Being only mortal, after all, I should have been 
a little mortified if I had been beaten in this can- 
vass before the people ; but that sting 
would have been more than compensated 
by the thought that the people had notified me 
that all my official responsibilities were soon to be 
lifted off my back." 



A LETTER OF GRATITUDE. 

( Written to Deacon John Phillips of Stockbridge, Mass., 
who, though 104 years old, voted for President Lincoln 
in November, 1864.) 

" I have heard of the incident at the polls in 
your town, in which you acted so honorable a part, 

and I take the liberty of writing to you to 
1864 , . , r s L 

express my personal gratitude for the com- 
pliment paid me by the suffrage of a citizen so 
venerable. 

"The example of such devotion to civic duties in 
one whose days have already been extended an 
average lifetime beyond the Psalmist's limits, can- 
not but be valuable and fruitful. It is not for 

His words and his deeds were one. The grand unity of truth 
wrought them into its clear consistency. Few men have lived who 
held over the people, by simple integrity, such prevailing power, or 
demonstrated to the world such a scope of uprightness. — Henry 
Fowler. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 59 

myself only, but for the country which you have in 
your sphere served so long and so well, that I 
thank you." 



RATIFYING THE ELECTION. 

{Speech at a meeting in front of the White House, 
November 20, 1864.) 

" I thank you, in common with all others who 

have thought fit by your votes to indorse the 

Republican cause. Yet in all our rejoicing 

let us neither express, nor cherish, any 

harsh feeling towards any citizen who by his vote 

has differed with us. 

" Let us at all times remember that all American 
citizens are brothers of a common country, and 
should dwell together in the bonds of fraternal 
feeling." 



LETTER TO A GRIEF-STRICKEN MOTHER. 

( To Mrs. Bixby of Boston, Mass., November 21, 1864.) 

" I have been shown on the file of the War 

Department a statement of the adjutant general of 

Massachusetts, that you are the mother of 

five sons who have died gloriously on the 

field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must 

Mr. Lincoln's mind was slow, angular, and ponderous, rather than 
quick and finely discriminating, and in time his great powers of 
reason on cause and effect, on creation and relation, on substance 
and on truth, would form a proposition, an opinion, wisely and welL 
— F. B. Carpenter. 



l6o WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

be any word of mine which should attempt to 
beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelm- 
ing ; but I cannot refrain from tendering to you the 
consolation that may be found in the thanks of 
the republic they died to save. 

" I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage 

the anguish of your bereavement, and leave only 

the cherished memory of the loved and lost, 

4 and the solemn pride that must be yours 

to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of 

freedom." -«^*^w-.-«^z>-. 

"OUR PEOPLE CAN AFFORD TO BE 
MAGNANIMOUS." 

(Interview with Charles Maltby, December, 1S64.) 

" My own feelings have also changed much in 
that direction, and I am much gratified to see that 
it is the growing sentiment of the people. 
In the final success of the Union cause, our 
people can afford to be magnanimous and still be 
just. I can see and feel that there are many reasons 
why this should be so. 

" We have not been fighting aliens, but misled, 
misguided friends and brothers, members of our own 
household ; and we may grant and forgive much 
when we take into consideration what have been 

Ami his last act (Oh, gentle, kiiully heart !), 
The nohle prompting of unselfish grace, 

He would not disappoint the waiting crowd, 
Who came to gaze upon his honored face. 

— Lucy Hamilton Hooper. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. l6l 

the teachings and influences which have formed and 
molded the public sentiments and private feelings 
of that people. And now, when final success is 
obtained, which appears assured, I think the great 
object then to be first accomplished and to have in 
view, should be to bring back and restore the rela- 
tion of the several rebel States to the Union and to 
their original and former standing. This may be 
done in a spirit of conciliation, friendship, and for- 
bearance which should characterize a generous and 
forgiving people. To effect this desirable object, 
I think that we should deal with them as gener- 
ously as the interests of the government and the 
public safety will permit." 



FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CON- 
GRESS, DECEMBER 6, 1864. 

"The most remarkable feature in the military 
operations of the year is General Sherman's at- 
tempted march of three hundred miles directly 
through the insurgent region. It tends to 
show a great increase of our relative strength 
that our general-in-chief should feel able to con- 
front and hold in check every active force of the 
enemy, and yet to detach a well-appointed large 
army to move on such an expedition. The result 

In her furnace the centuries had welded 

Their fetter and chain ; 
And like withes, in the hands of his purpose, 

He snapped them in twain. 

— Phabe Cary. 



1 62 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

not yet being known, conjecture in regard to it is 
not here indulged. 

" Important movements have also occurred dur- 
ing the year to the effect of molding society for 
durability in the Union. Although short 
of complete success, it is much in the right 
direction that twelve thousand citizens in each of 
the States of Arkansas and Louisiana have organ- 
ized loyal State governments, with free constitu- 
tions, and are earnestly struggling to maintain and 
administer them. The movements in the same 
dirction — more extensive, though less definite — in 
Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee should not be 
overlooked. But Maryland presents the example 
of complete success. Maryland is secure to liberty 
and union for all the future. The genius of rebel- 
lion will no more claim Maryland. Like another 
foul spirit, being driven out, it may seek to tear her, 
but it will woo her no more. 

" In presenting the abandonment of armed 
resistance to the national authority on the part of 
the insurgents, as the only indispensable condition 
to ending the war on the part of the government, 
I retract nothing heretofore said as to slavery. 

" I repeat the declaration, made a year ago, that 
while I remain in my present position I shall not 
attempt to retract or modify the emancipation 
proclamation, nor shall I return to slavery any per- 

For unselfish devotion to the public welfare, purity of character, 
freedom from partisanship and personal ambition, and ability to com- 
prehend and deal with the momentous questions at issue in our great 
struggle for national existence, he was first among the ablest states- 
men and most loyal men of his time. — T. S. Arthur. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 63 

son who is free by the terms of that proclama- 
tion, or by any of the acts of Congress. 

" If the people should, by whatever mode or 
means, make it an executive duty to re-enslave such 
persons, another, and not I, must be their instru- 
ment to perform it. 

" In stating a single condition of peace, I mean 
simply to say that the war will cease on the part 
of the government whenever it shall have ceased 
on the part of those who began it." 



"ALL ANIMATED BY THE SAME DETER- 
MINATION." 

{Reply to an invitation to attend the annual festival of the 
New England Society, December 22, 1864, to commemorate 
the landing of the Pilgrims.) 

" I cannot but congratulate you and the country, 
however, upon the spectacle of devoted unanimity, 
presented by the people at home, the citizens 
that form our marching columns, and the 
citizens that fill our squadrons on the sea, all ani- 
mated by the same determination to complete the 
work our fathers began and transmitted. 

" The work of the Plymouth emigrants was the 
glory of their age. While we reverence their 

To the young men I would say, Listen to him, imitate his glorious 
life, live like him, for God, your country, and the rights of all men. 
Be pure in heart and purpose as was your great President. Be loyal 
as he was loyal. Let the inspiration of his memory be one of the 
guiding stars of your future life. — M. P. Gaddis. 



164 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

memory, let us not forget how vastly greater is our 
opportunity." 



"EVER ANXIOUS TO AID THE GOOD 
CAUSE." 

{Reply to an invitation from the lady managers of a soldiers' 
fair, held at Springfield, Mass., in December, 1864.) 

"Grateful for the compliment, and ever anxious 
to aid the good cause in which you are engaged, I 

g6 yet am compelled, by public duties here, to 
decline your kind invitation. The recent 
good news from Generals Sherman, Thomas, and, 
indeed, from nearly all quarters, will be far better 
than my presence, and will afford all the impulse 
and enthusiasm you will want." 



GOD WILL CONTROL THE HEARTS OF 
THE PEOPLE. 

{Reply to Messrs. Wilson, of Ioiua, and Casey of Kentucky, 
when one said " he had faith that Providence is -with us.") 

" I have a higher faith than yours. I have faith, 
not only that God is with our cause, but 
4 that He will control the hearts of the people 
so that they will be faithful to it, too." 

His had been the most fearful responsibility untlcr which man had 
stood in modern times — responsibility which had furrowed brow and 
cheek with ceaseless cues and ^rcat anxieties — and he was barely 
permitted to taste the rewards of a faithful stewardship. — William 
T. Wilson. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 65 

CARE AND ANXIETY OF THE 
PRESIDENT. 

{Remarks to Charles Maltby, who called to see the President 
in December, 1864.) 

"Since the people called me to the position I 
now occupy, four years ago, I cannot recall 
a day devoid of care and anxiety. 

" While the physical labors during that period 
have been beyond description, the mental excite- 
ments, responsibilities, and hopes, followed by dis- 
appointments, have worn me away as you see me 
to-day. 

" But I see now much to hope for the future ; 
the people have, by their votes, approved, thus far, 
my administration and policy, and the positions of 
Generals Grant and Sherman with their armies give 
assurance that the days of the rebellion are drawing 
to a close." 



HONOR TO GENERAL SHERMAN. 

{Dispatch to General Sherman, December 26, 1864.) 

" When you were about leaving Atlanta for the 

Atlantic Coast, I was anxious, if not fearful; but 

feeling that you were the better judge, and 

remembering that ' nothing risked, nothing 

Who can say that the President did not lay down his life by the 
firmness of his devotion to a great duty ? The name of Lincoln will 
remain one of the greatest that history has to inscribe on its annals. 
— Merle D'A ubign/. 



1 66 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

gained,' I did not interfere. Now, the undertaking 
being a success, the honor is all yours ; for I believe 
none of us went further than to acquiesce." 



WILL FAVOR THE SOLDIERS OF THE 
NATION. 

{Reply to an address from the Bureau of the Employment of 
disabled and discharged soldiers.) 

" It gives me pleasure to assure you of my hearty 
concurrence with the purpose you announce, and I 
shall at all times be ready to recognize the 
paramount claims of the soldiers of the 
nation in the disposition of public trusts. I shall be 
glad, also, to make these suggestions to the several 
heads of departments." 



PRINCETON COLLEGE CONFERS THE 
DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF LAWS. 

{Letter of thanks, December 27, 1864) 

" I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt 

of your note of the 20th of December, conveying 

the announcement that the Trustees of the 
1864 

College of New Jersey had conferred upon 
me the degree of Doctor of Laws. 

He has. never betrayed or deserted a principle. When his posi- 
tions have finally been taken, he has stood like a shaft of adamant in 
a stormy mean, which no howling of the storm or dashing ol the 
waves could shake.— y. D. Strong. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 167 

'* The assurance, conveyed by this high compli- 
ment, that the course of the Government which I 
represent has received the approval of a body of 
gentlemen of such character and intelligence, in 
this time of public trial, is most grateful to me. 

" Thoughtful men must feel that the fate of civili- 
zation upon this continent is involved in the issue of 
our contest. Among the most gratifying proofs of 
this conviction is the hearty devotion everywhere 
exhibited by our schools and colleges to the national 
cause. I am most thankful if my labors have 
seemed to conduce to the preservation of those 
institutions under which alone we can expect good 
government and in its train sound learning and 
the progress of the liberal arts." 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF A VASE OF 

SKELETON FLOWERS FROM THE 

BATTLEFIELD OF GETTYSBURG. 

{Presented by some ladies, January, iS6j.) 

** I accept with emotions of profoundest gratitude 

the beautiful gift you have been pleased to present 

to me. So much has been said about 

Gettysburg, and so well, that for me to 

attempt to say more may perhaps only serve to 

When the fragments of his history, now reposing in the hearts of 
those whom he befriended, in the hearts of his associates in council, 
in official actions and State papers, have all been brought together 
by competent hands, then will his character appear brighter and 
brighter. — H. L. Morehouse. 



l68 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

weaken the force of that which has already been 
said. 

" A most graceful and eloquent tribute was paid 
to the patriotism and self-denying labors of the 
American ladies on the occasion of the consecra- 
tion of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg by 
our illustrious friend Edward Everett, now, alas ! 
departed from earth. 

" His life was a truly great one, and I think the 
greatest part of it was that which crowned its closing 
years. I wish you to read — if you have not already 
done so — the eloquent and truthful words which he 
then spoke of the women of America. Truly, the 
service they have rendered to the defenders of our 
country in this perilous time, and are yet rendering, 
can never be estimated as they ought to be." 



G 'WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE, WITH 
CHARITY FOR ALL." 

{Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1S63.) 

" Fellow-countrymen : At this second appearing 

to take the oath of the Presidential office, there is 

less occasion for an extended address than 

there was at the first. Then a statement, 

somewhat in detail, of a course to be pursued 

seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration 

llf ..ffered no shining qualities at the first encounter ; he did not 
offend by superiority ; he had a fare and manner which disarmed sus- 

picion, which inspired confidence, which confirmed good will. — Ralph 
IV. Emerson. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 169 

of four years, during which public declarations have 
been constantly called forth on every point and 
phase of the great contest which still absorbs the 
attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, 
little that is new could be presented. 

" The progress of our arms, upon which all else 
chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to 
myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and 
encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, 
no prediction in regard to it is ventured. 

" On the occasion corresponding to this, four 
years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to 
an impending civil war. All dreaded it ; all sought 
to avert it. While the inaugural address was being 
delivered from this place, devoted altogether to sav- 
ing the Union without war, insurgents' agents were 
in the city seeking to destroy it without war — seek- 
ing to dissolve the Union and divide its effects by 
negotiation. 

" Both parties deprecated war ; but one of them 
would make war rather than let the nation survive, 
and the other would accept war rather than let it 
perish. And the war came. 

" The prayer of both could not be answered — 
those of neither have been answered fully. The 
Almighty has His own purposes. ' Woe unto the 
world because of offenses ! for it must needs be that 
offenses come ; but woe to that man by whom the 
offense cometh.' 

And upon nothing will memory more delight to dwell than upon 
that high, forgiving temper which lifts up a fallen foe, restores a wan- 
dering brother, and repays the cruelty of hatred by an overcoming 
benignity and love. — Stephen H. Tyng. 



170 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

" If we shall suppose that American slavery is one 
of those offenses which, in the providence of God, 
must needs come, but which, having continued 
through His appointed time, He.now wills to remove, 
and that He gives to North and South this terrible 
war as the woe due to those by whom the offense 
came, shall we discern therein any departure from 
those divine attributes which the believers in a liv- 
ing God always ascribe to Him? 

" Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that 
this mighty scourge of war may soon pass away. 

" Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the 
wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and 
fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until 
every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid 
by another drawn with the sword, as was said three 
thousand years ago, so still it must be said, ' The 
judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
altogether.' 

" With malice toward none, with charity for all, 
with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see 
the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are 
in ; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him 
who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow 
and for his orphan ; to do all which may achieve and 
cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, 
and with all nations." 



Greater difficulties than his no one ever met ; heavier responsibili- 
ties than his never burdened any human soul, and through the whole 
he has borne himself with a calmness, ■ patience, a perseverance, a 
steadfastness of aim, an honesty of purpose, a fidelity to his country, 
that will assign to him an eminent place in the history of the world. — 
Stimuel T. Spear. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 171 

"NO CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES SHORT 
OF THE END OF THE WAR." 

{Instructions given to Win. H. Seward, at the meeting of 
Messrs. Stevens, Hunter, and Campbell at Fortress 
Monroe, Va., January 31, iS6j.) 

" First, the restoration of the national authority 

throughout all the States ; second, no receding by 

the Executive of the United States, on the 
1865 . . ' 

slavery question, from the position assumed 

thereon in the late annual message to Congress and 
in the preceding documents ; no cessation of hos- 
tilities short of the end of the war and the disband- 
ing of all the forces hostile to the government." 



REGARDING HIS SECOND ANNUAL 
ADDRESS. 

(Letter to Thurlow Weed, March ij, 1S63.) 

" Everyone likes a compliment. Thank you for 
yours on my little notification speech and on the 
recent inaugural address. I expect the lat- 
ter to wear as well as, perhaps better than, 
anything I have produced ; but I believe it is not 
immediately popular. 
" Men are not flattered by being shown that there 

His public career, from the lowest station to the highest, was 
singularly pure. It challenges investigation. To him as rightfully 
as to any man in all the land, was applied by his admiring country- 
men the term honest. — John Farquhar. 



172 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

has been a difference of purpose between the Al- 
mighty and them. 

" To deny it, however, in this case is to deny that 
there is a God governing the world. 

" It is a truth which I thought needed to be told, 
and, as whatever of humiliation there is in it falls 
most directly on myself, I thought others might 
afford for me to tell it." 



AT THE PRESENTATION OF A 
CAPTURED FLAG. 

Remarks to the 140th Indiana Volunteers, in front 
of the National Hotel, Washington, March 17, 1865, 
upon the presentation by the regiment of a captured 
flag to Governor O. P. Morton of Indiana: 

"I was born in Kentucky, raised in Indiana, and 
lived in Illinois; and now I am here, where it is my 
business to care equally for the good people 
of all the States. I am glad to see an 
Indiana regiment on this day able to present the 
captured flag to the Governor of Indiana. I am 
not disposed, in saying this, to make a distinction 
between the States; for all have done equally 
well." 



War at his feet His thundering trump had dashed, 
And l'cace was taking up her warbling lyre, 

And flowers wen- burying loft the thorns, when flashed, 
How quick ! how deadly, the assassin's fire ! 

—Alfred B. Street. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 73 



WITH GRANT AT CITY POINT. 

Having a great desire to see the Army of the 

Potomac, the President visited General Grant's 

headquarters at City Point. While at the 

front, he telegraphed Secretary of War 

Stanton as follows : 

" All seems well with us, and everything quiet 
just now." 



HAPPIEST DAY OF THE FOUR YEARS. 

The following remarks were made by the Presi- 
dent to Admiral David D. Porter, while on board 
the flag-ship Malvern, on the James River in front 
of Richmond the day the city surrendered : 

" Thank God, that I have lived to see this ! It 
seems to me that I have been dreaming a 
horrid dream for four years, and now the 
nightmare is gone. I want to see Richmond." 



NEGROES KNEEL AT THE PRESI- 
DENT'S FEET. 

While the President was walking through the 
streets of Richmond, Va., April 4, 1865, some 
negroes knelt at his feet and thanked him for their 

Like the unfinished work of the artist, which needs only the 
slightest touch upon eye or mouth to round and complete the like- 
ness, so the work of this patient and unpretending ruler needed 
but the touch of death to render it immortal.— J. E. Rankin. 



174 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

freedom. The President replied, in his characteris- 
tic way, as follows : 

" Don't kneel to me — that is not right. You 
must kneel to God only, and thank Him for the 
liberty you will hereafter enjoy ; lam but 
God's humble instrument ; but you may rest 
assured that as long as I live no one shall put a 
shackle on your limbs, and you shall have all the 
rights which God has given to every other free 
citizen of this republic." 



REMARKS TO NEGROES IN THE 
STREETS OF RICHMOND. 

The President walked through the streets of 
Richmond — without a guard except a few seamen — 
in company with his son " Tad," and Admiral 
Porter, on the 4th of April, 1865, the day following 
the evacuation of the city. Colored people gathered 
about him on every side, eager to see and thank 
their liberator. Mr. Lincoln addressed the follow- 
ing remarks to one of these gatherings: 

" My poor friends, you are free — free as air. You 

can cast off the name of slave and trample upon it ; 

it will come to you no more. Liberty is 

your birthright. God gave it to you as he 

gave it to others, and it is a sin that you have been 

deprived of it for so many years. 

Like the mighty oak which towers far above its fellows here, he 
was a growth of the forces of nature, and one cannot resist the con- 
clusion that he was prepared, in a special sense, by God, for the work 
he had to do. — W'illaiJ ll\irno . 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 17$ 

" But you must try to deserve this priceless boon. 
Let the world see that you merit it, and are able 
to maintain it by your good works. Don't let your 
joy carry you into excesses ; learn the laws, and 
obey them. Obey God's commandments, and thank 
Him for giving you liberty, for to Him you owe all 
things. There, now, let me pass on ; I have but 
little time to spare. I want to see the Capitol, and 
must return at once to Washington to secure to you 
that liberty which you seem to prize so highly." 



SHAKES HANDS WITH OVER SIX 
THOUSAND SOLDIERS. 

Remarks made by the President to the Medical 
Director, at City Point, Va., April 8, 1865, when he 
devoted the whole day to shaking hands with over 
six thousand soldiers in the hospitals, giving them 
words of cheer and sympathy, as from a father to 
his children : 

" I have come to see the boys who have fought 

the battles of the country, and particularly the 

battles which resulted in the evacuation of 

Richmond. I desire to take these men by 

the hand, as it will probably be my last opportunity 

of meeting them." 



Over our Washington's river, 

Sunrise beams rosy and fair ; 
Sunset on Sangamon fairer ; 

Father and martyr lies there. 

— Edna Dean Proctor. 



176 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 



NOT SCARED ABOUT HIMSELF. 

Reply to Schuyler Colfax, when told how uneasy 
all had been at his going to Richmond : 

" Why, if anyone else had been President, and 
had gone to Richmond, I would have been 
alarmed ; but I was not scared about my- 
self a bit." 



TO A PARTY OF SERENADERS BEFORE 
THE WHITE HOUSE. 

{Assembled on the afternoon of April 10, fS6j.) 

" I am informed that you have assembled here 
this afternoon under the impression that I had 
made an appointment to speak at this time. 
This is a mistake. I have made no such 
appointment. More or less persons have been 
gathered here at different times during the day, and 
in the exuberance of their feeling, and for all of 
which they are greatly justified, calling upon me to 
say something, and I have from time to time been 
sending out what I suppose was proper to disperse 
them for the present. I therefore say to you that 
I shall be quite willing, and I hope ready, to say 
something when a general demonstration takes 
place ; whereas just now I am not ready to say any- 
Born in the humblest walks of life, and unaided by education or 
by fortune, Abraham Lincoln, by his own endeavors and native 
rcet, alt. lined to the highest honor of the Republic. — David 
Davis, 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 77 

thing that one in my position ought to say. Every- 
thing I say, you know, goes into print. If I make 
a mistake, it doesn't merely affect me, or you, but 
the country. I, therefore, ought at least try not to 
make mistakes." 



"'DIXIE/ OUR LAWFUL PRIZE." 

{Speech at a gathering before the White House in the forenoon 
of April 10, 1S63, rejoicing over the surrender of Lee's 
army.) 

"I am very greatly rejoiced that an occasion has 
occurred so pleasurable that the people can't re- 
strain themselves. I suppose that arrange- 
ments are being made for some sort of 
formal demonstration, perhaps this evening or to- 
morrow night. If there should be such a demon- 
stration, I, of course, shall have to respond to it, 
and I shall have nothing to say if I dribble it out 
before. 

" I see you have a band. I propose now closing 
up by requesting you to play a certain air, or tune. 
I have always thought ' Dixie ' one of the best 
tunes I ever heard. I have heard that our adver- 
saries over the way have attempted to appropriate 
it as a national air. I insisted yesterday that we 
had fairly captured it. I presented the question to 

We cannot overrate the value to us of those steady nerves, those 
lithe, tough muscles, that hardy, robust frame, which had been secured, 
in so great degree, by the wholesome habits of his early life. — Henry 
A. Nelson. 



178 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

the Attorney General, and he gave his opinion that 
it is our lawful prize. I ask the band to give us a 
good turn upon it." 



LAST PUBLIC ADDRESS OF ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN. 

(Remarks on April 11, 1865, to a gathering at the White 
House on the fall of Richmond.) 

" We meet this evening not in sorrow, but in 
gladness of heart. 

" The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, 
and the surrender of the principal insurgent army, 
give hope of a righteous and speedy peace, 
whose joyous expression cannot be re- 
strained. 

" In the midst of this, however, He from whom 
all blessings flow must not be forgotten. Nor must 
those whose harder part give us the cause of rejoic- 
ing be overlooked ; their honors must not be par- 
celed out with others. 

" I myself was near the front, and had the high 
pleasure of transmitting the good news to you ; but 
no part of the honor, for plan or execution, is mine. 
To General Grant, his skillful officers and brave 
men, all belongs." 

At the hour of his death he occupied the loftiest pinnacle of honor 
ever reached by man. This leader of such a nation in its supreme 
crisis, foremost in the files of time, was likewise, through the mercy 
of God, invested with a heritage in the celestial kingdom. — W'hedsck 
Craig. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. 1 79 

ONE OF THE LAST LETTERS WRITTEN 
BY THE PRESIDENT. 

The following letter was written by the President, 
under date of April 14, 1865, to General Van Allen 
of New York, who had asked Mr. Lincoln not to ex- 
pose his life unnecessarily, as he had done at Rich- 
mond, and assuring him of the earnest desire of all 
of his countrymen to close the war he had so 
successfully conducted. 

" I intend to adopt the advice of my friends and 
use precaution. I thank you for the assurance you 
give me that I shall be supported by con- 
servative men like yourself in the efforts I 
may make to restore the Union, so as to make it, to 
use your own language, a union of hearts and hands 
as well as of States." 



LAST VERBAL MESSAGE. 

(A verbal message given to Hon. Schuyler Colfax, April 14, 
1863, for the miners of the West.) 

" I want you to take a message from me to the 

miners whom you visit. I have very large ideas of 

the mineral wealth of our nation. I believe 

it practically inexhaustible. It abounds all 

over the Western country, from the Rocky Moun- 

Plain in body and mind, simple and direct in speech, great, rugged, 
sincere, a passionate lover of liberty, trained in the people's school 
to be their own unyielding instrument, regarding their rights and 
prosperity.— -J. C. Black, 



l8o WORDS OF LINCOLN. 

tains to the Pacific, and its development has scarcely 
commenced. 

" During the war, when we were adding a couple 
of millions of dollars every day to our national 
debt, I did not care about encouraging the increase 
in the volume of our precious metal. We had the 
country to save first. But, now that the rebellion 
is overthrown, and we know pretty nearly the 
amount of our national debt, the more gold and 
silver we mine makes the payment of that debt so 
much the easier. Now, I am going to encourage 
that in every possible way. 

" We shall have hundreds of thousands of dis- 
banded soldiers, and many have feared that their 
return home in such great numbers might paralyze 
industry by furnishing suddenly a greater supply of 
labor than there will be a demand for. 

" I am going to try and attract tHem to the hid- 
den wealth of our mountain ranges, where there is 
room enough for all. Immigration, which even the 
war has not stopped, will land upon our shores 
hundreds of thousands more per year from over- 
crowded Europe. I intend to point them to the 
gold and silver that waits for them in the West. 

" Tell the miners, from me, that I shall promote 
their interests to the utmost of my ability, because 
their prosperity is the prosperity of the nation ; and 
we shall prove, in a very few years, that we are, in- 
deed, tlie treasury of the zvorld." 

He sought to make every man better and happier. He delighted 
in opportunities to sympathise with the suffering and sorrowing, and 
in smoothing the pillow of a dying lolditf, or in listening to the 
grief of a stricken mother. — A\ Jtffery. 




• U 111' II I i.Nt OLN DIED, 511 II STREET, 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 



WORDS OF LINCOLN. l8l 

REMARKS TO HIS WIFE ON THE 
FATAL DAY. 

(Remarks made by the President to his wife while they were 
out driving in an open carriage on the afternoon of April 
14, iS6j, when Mrs. Lincoln said: " You almost startle 
me by your cheerfulness.'") 

" And well I may feel so, Mary, for I consider 
this day the war has come to a close. We must 
both be more cheerful in the future ; be- 
tween the war and the loss of our darling 
Willie, we have been very miserable." 



LAST WRITTEN WORDS OF ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN. 

Given to Mr. Ashmun as the President and Mrs. 
Lincoln were leaving the White House, a few 
minutes before eight o'clock, on the evening of 
April 14, 1865 : 

" Allow Mr. Ashmun and friend to come to me 
at 9 o'clock A. M., to-morrow, April 15, 

1865 1865." 

Sleep there calmly, thou under whose administration a race has 
broken its shackles and risen from its degradation. Over thy bier 
that race has shed more heartfelt tears than ever before moistened 
the couch of an earthly ru\ei.—/oAn Chester, 




LINCOLN MONUMENT, SPRINGFIELD, ILL. 



In this monument sleeps the Apostle of Liberty. 

J. L. Beveridge. 



TRIBUTES. 



Chieftain, farewell! The nation mourns thee. 
Mothers shall teach thy name to their lisping 
children. The youth of our land shall emulate thy 
virtues. Statesmen shall study thy record, and 
learn lessons of wisdom. Mute though thy lips be, 
yet they still speak. Hushed is thy voice, but its 
echoes of liberty are ringing through the world, and 
the sons of bondage listen with joy. 

Matthew Simpson. 



Four years ago, oh, Illinois, we took him from 
your midst, an untried man from among the people. 
Behold, we return him a mighty conqueror. Not 
thine, but the nation's ; not ours, but the world's ! 
Give him place, ye prairies ! In the midst of this 
great continent his dust shall rest, a sacred treasure 
to myriads who shall pilgrim to that shrine, to 
kindle anew their zeal and patriotism. 

Henry Ward Beecher. 
183 



1 84 TRIBUTES. 

The grave that receives the remains of Lincoln 
receives the costly sacrifice to the Union ; the monu- 
ment which will rise over his body will bear witness 
to the Union ; his enduring memory will assist dur- 
ing countless ages to bind the States together, and 
to incite to the love of our one undivided, indivisible 

country. 

George Bancroft. 



Abraham Lincoln mastered the problem com- 

mitted to his hands. He felt that he was acting not 

merely for a single hour, but for all time. The 

question for decision was, " Whether this nation, or 

any other nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated 

to the proposition that all are equal, can long 

endure." 

George W. Briggs. 



A man of great ability, pure patriotism, unselfish 
nature, full of forgiveness to his enemies, bearing 
malice toward none, he proved to be the man 
above all others for the struggle through which the 
nation had to pass to place itself among the great- 
est in the family of nations. His fame will grow 
brighter as time passes and his great work is better 

understood. 

U. S. Grant. 



TRIBUTES. 185 

A statesman of the school of sound common 
sense, and a philanthropist of the most practical 
type, a patriot without a superior — his monument is 
a country preserved. 

C. S. Harrington. 



For many a year, and many an age, 
While history on her ample page 
The virtues shall enroll 
Of that paternal soul ! 

Richard Henry Stoddard. 



He ascended the mount where he could see the 
fair fields and the smiling vineyards of the promised 
land. But, like the great leader of Israel, he was 
not permitted to come to the possession. 

Seth Sweetser. 



In his freedom from passion and bitterness ; in his 
acute sense of justice ; in his courageous faith in 
the right, and his inextinguishable hatred of wrong; 
in warm and heartfelt sympathy and mercy ; in his 
coolness of judgment; in his unquestioned rectitude 
of intention — in a word, in his ability to lift himself 
for his country's sake above all mere partisanship, 
in all the marked traits of his character combined, 
he has had no parallel since Washington, and while 
our republic endures he will live with him in the 
grateful hearts of his grateful countrymen. 

Schuyler Colfax. 



1 86 TRIBUTES. 

Now all men begin to see that the plain people, 
who at last came to love him and to lean upon his 
wisdom, and trust him absolutely, were altogether 
right, and that in deed and purpose he was earnestly 
devoted to the welfare of the whole country, and of 
all its inhabitants. 

R. B. Hayes. 



At the moment when the stars of the Union, 
sparkling and resplendent with the golden fires of 
liberty, were waving over the subdued walls of 
Richmond the sepulcher opens, and the strong, the 
powerful enters it. 

Sr. Rebello da Silva. 



To him belongs the credit of having worked his 
way up from the humblest position an American 
freeman can occupy to the highest and most 
powerful, without losing, in the least, the simplicity 
and sincerity of nature which endeared him alike to 
the plantation slave and the metropolitan millionaire. 

The most malignant party opposition has never 
been able to call in question the patriotism of his 
motives, or tarnish with the breath of suspicion the 
brightness of his spotless fidelity. Ambition did not 
warp, power corrupt, nor glory dazzle him. 

VVA R RE N II . C U D WO RT4L 



TRIBUTES. 187 

By his steady, enduring confidence in God, and in 
the complete ultimate success of the cause of God, 
which is the cause of humanity, more than in any 
other way does he now speak to us, and to the 
nation he loved and served so well. 

P. D. GURLEY. 



Abraham Lincoln was born, and, until he became 
President, always lived in a part of the country 
which, at the period of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, was a savage wilderness. Strange but 
happy Providence, that a voice from that savage 
wilderness, now fertile in men, was inspired to up- 
hold the pledges and promises of the Declaration ! 
The unity of the republic on the indestructible 
foundation of liberty and equality was vindicated 
by the citizen of a community which had no exist- 
ence when the republic was formed. 

A cabin was built in primitive rudeness, and the 
future President split the rails for the fence to 
inclose the lot. These rails have become classical 
in our history, and the name of rail-splitter has been 
more than the degree of a college. Not that the 
splitter of rails is especially meritorious, but because 
the people are proud to trace aspiring talent to 
humble beginnings, and because they found in this 
tribute a new opportunity of vindicating the dignity 
of free labor. 

Charles Sumner. 



1 88 TRIBUTES 

A brighter and yet more tender page of our country's history can- 
not be written than that which will refer to the words and deeds of 
AbrahamLincoln during the last month of his life. — A. G. Thomas. 

As true to humanity as he had always been faithful to his country, 
his last words were a prayer and benediction for his enemies.— 
Robert P. Porter. 

His life and character are substantial things in the world's history, 
upon which time, after a rigid scrutiny, will pass an irreversible 
judgment. — Frederick T. Frelinghuysen. 

His name will ever be in the hearts of the American people, as 
green, as fresh, and as pleasant as is to the eyes the tender grass 
springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. — Morgan Dix. 

I could wish that fitting words would offer themselves to me to 
add to the multitude of tributes to the memory of Abraham Lincoln. — 
0. IV. Holmes. 

I think all must be agreed, that in a trial which, perhaps more than 
any other, tested the moral quality of the man, he performed his 
duty with simplicity and strength. — Benjamin Disraeli. 

The Emancipation Proclamation lifts him to a niche in the temple 
of fame an arrow's shot higher than any ever held by any living 
American. — J. D. Fulton. 

He did not seek to say merely the thing that was for the day's 
debate, but the thing which would stand the test of time and square 
itself with eternal justice. — James G. Blaine. 

Whatever you have of civil order, of civil law, is the free gift of 
Abraham Lincoln, the tenderness and charities of whom were as inevi- 
table to his nature as light to the sun. — Stephen A. Hurlbut. 

Anything which tends to bring the honest, true life of so grand a 
man to the thoughts and hearts of each generation is a worthy work. — 
S.J. KirkwooJ. 



TRIBUTES 189 

His fame will grow brighter and grander as it descends the ages, 
and posterity will regard him as the incarnation of democracy in its 
pure childhood. — Henry C. Dening. 

It was a hard life, a busy life, an American life, and a great life, 
and it rendered service to the country which can hardly be over- 
estimated. — Roscoe Conkling. 

Mr. Lincoln was lifted by the force of his unrivaled genius from 
the mass of the people, the immutable basis, the granite of our 
civilization, to an elevation of solitary grandeur. — G. de la Matyr. 

He was a thorough American, carrying a calm mind and tender 
heart, with a firm sense of right, through the stormy period of civil 
strife. — Howard Crosby. 

I believe that, under the providence of God, he was, next to 
Washington, the greatest instrument for the preservation of the 
Union and the integrity of the country. — Peter Cooper. 

The peer of the proudest monarch, and in every position the same 
plain, honest, prudent man — safe in council, wise in action, and pure 
in purpose.— John C. New. 

He spoke to all mankind words of patriotism, admonition, and 
pathos which will continue to sound through the ages as long as the 
flowers shall bloom or the waters flow. — Alexander H. Rice. 

He was a good father to his children, and a good president to the 
people, whom he loved as if they had been his children. — Charles 
Godfrey Leland. 

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most commanding figures in his- 
tory. The world has confirmed and history has recorded it. When 
he died, it was as a conqueror. — Samuel Adams Drake. 

A great, a good man has gone, in the fullness of his fame, in the 
height of his glory, to join the sages and patriots of the Revolution- 
ary days. — Benj. F. Butler. 



190 TRIBUTES 

They all knew Mr. Lincoln's characteristic clemency, and that the 
terms of the peace he was intent on were exceedingly mild. — Gerrit 
Smith. 



No man could have endured so much without some recreation, and 
that humor was to him what a safety valve is to an engine. — Hannibal 
Hamlin. 

He had a sterling common sense, a vein of humor, an unselfish 
patriotism, which secured for him a lasting place in the catalogue of 
the world's leaders. — George P. Fisher. 

Had he lived, the long and bitter struggle over reconstruction 
would never have been initiated, and peace and prosperity would have 
followed the laying down of arms. — IVm. F. Smith. 

He stands before us all, as he has stamped himself ineffaceably on 
the pure silver of the national heart, all fluent and melted in the 
fervid heat of the fiery war. — Henry W. Foote. 

More distinctly than any other president since Washington, he 
irradiated the official pathway at all times and in all places with the 
conspicuous publicity of Christian ethics. — A lex. H. Bullock. 

His mind was so vigorous, his comprehension exact and clear, and 
his judgment so sure, that he easily mastered the intricacies of his 
profession. — Thomas DruvimonJ. 

His heart knew no guile, but into its richest, deepest soil, tender 
love for the liberty of every man that breathes struck deep into its 
roots. — Thomas A r milage. 

In the supreme crisis of American history, his faith in the ultimate 
triumph <>f popular institutions never failed him. By that faith he 
saved the nation. — William C. Morey. 

Studying his grammar by the fire-light of a log cabin when a boy, 
he aililn-sscl the Senate and people from the capital of a great 
nation. — James Freeman Clark. 



TRIBUTES 191 

Never was the title honest so expressive of character. Honest not 
only in action and word, but also in thought and feeling and purpose. 
—Horace Maynard. 

In every position in life, from his humble beginning to the present 
well-earned elevation, he has more than fulfilled the best hopes of his 
friends. — Edward Bates. 

Nothing which can be done to perpetuate his fame, to keep him 
ever before the coming generations of his countrymen, should be 
omitted. — C. F. Burnam. 

He believed that this people were in the especial keeping of Provi. 
dence, and that it was his duty as President to await the expressed 
will of God, and then to act. — George H. Hep-worth, 

The elements of his character was a love of freedom and of law, 
perceptions of the right thing to do and the right time to do it, all 
regulated by a sober faith in divine Providence. — A . Cleveland Coxe. 

He could receive counsel from a child and give counsel to a sage. 
The simple approached him with ease, and the learned approached 
him with deference. — Frederick Douglass. 

His elevation to the highest honor within the gift of the people 
did not alter his feelings or deportment toward his acquaintances, 
however humble. — G. S. Hubbard. 

Mr. Lincoln was one of those singular men whom the great unknown 
power brings upon the scenes of men's actions when momentous 
events are about to transpire. — W. B. Franklin. 

His earnest desire seemed to be to end the war speedily without 
more bloodshed or devastation, and to restore all the men of both 
sections to their homes. — IV. T. Sherman. 

The dove was returning from the redeemed world with a branch of 
olive when the hand of the assassin struck down the emancipator of 
the race of slaves. — Wm. Wilberforce Newton. 



I92 TRIBUTES 

An ardent patriot, shrewd, with large common sense, far-reaching 
foresight, firmness and tenacity of purpose, and possessing the largest 
sympathies. — W. Strong. 

His memory will shine in ages to come like a fixed star in a cloud- 
less night, on which continents may gaze with admiration. — P. B. 
Day. 

Mr. Lincoln was the greatest man this country has produced. He 
was mortal, and yearned, above all things, for the final approval of 
mankind. — \Vm. D. Kelley. 

He had a sharp insight that cut through all the rind of sophistries 
to the core of difficult questions, leaving such light on the stroke that 
other minds could follow. — A. L. Stone. 

It pleased him better to pardon than to punish, and to overcome his 
and the country's enemies by transforming them into friends. — 
Samuel J. Nichols. 

We are indebted to him for the consistent example in private and 
public life, and for some of the noblest sentiments of humanity ever 
spoken. — Elias Nason. 

There is not a man on the continent or globe that will or can say 
that Abraham Lincoln is his enemy, or that he deserved punishment 
or death for his individual acts. — N. P. Banks. 

No man could talk to him upon public questions without being 
struck with the singular lucidity of his mind and the rapidity with 
which he fastened on the essential point. — Titian J. Coffen. 

His genius, wisdom, and goodness saved the Union. His great 
heart liberated the slaves. — A. A. E. Taylor. 

He was a man of strong attachments, and his nature overflowed 
willi the milk of human kindness. — Alexander H . Stephens. 

The lunging for unity and the return of brethren to a common 
center and home, hail full possession of him. — //'//;. /'. Morgan. 



TRIBUTES 193 

There is little fear of our forgetting — there is little fear of the 
world's forgetting the name of Abraham Lincoln.— John McClinlock. 

His " firmness in the right, as God gave him to see," was to him 
faith, courage, patience, and boundless endurance. — -Joshua F. Speed. 

Whatever shall keep green the memory of Abraham Lincoln, let 
that be done. — Clinton B. Fisk. 

Abraham Lincoln was a pure and honest man, and possessor of 
very superior abilities. — Charles Lanman. 

Along with a gentle, tender, yearning sympathy, he had the firm- 
ness of a rock and the courage of a lion. — Etnerson Bennett. 

Few men in the world's history have been privileged to do a work 
involving so much benefit to mankind. — Newman Hall. 

He was as true to the right as the needle to the pole, in all storms 
and on every sea. — E. B. Webb. 

That death ennobles Lincoln. The South gained nothing by this 
crime. Long live liberty ! Long live the Republic ! — Victor Hugo. 

His name will brighten as it rises out of the conflicts of the war 
into the serene sky of history. — J. M. Manning. 

The harvest of moral fruitage from his death will be the garnered 
legacy of the nation through the ages to come. — William Hague. 

Coming ages can properly estimate the value of his services to this 
country and to human freedom in all lands.— James Marvin. 

His life was one of true patriotism, and his character one of hon- 
esty and of the highest type of religious sentiment. — Alex. Ramsey. 

The ripest and fairest fruit that has fallen from our American tree 
of civilization is Abraham Lincoln. — R. B. Anderson. 

I regard him as one of the greatest men of our time. His fame is 
growing every day. — Thos. Burk. 



194 TRIBUTES 

His life, even at the moment it was taken away, was the most im- 
portant and precious life in our whole land. — Robert C. Winthrop. 

He had a heart open to all innocent pleasure and purged from the 
leaven of malice and uncharitableness. — James E. Murdoch. 

He repelled no one ; he strove to make friends, not for himself so 
much as for the preservation of the government. — J. P. Usher. 

The purity of his reputation ennobles every incident of his career, 
and gives significance to all the events of the past. — W. D. Howells. 

In my conversations with him, I absorbed the firm conviction that 
Mr. Lincoln was at heart a Christian. — Noah Porter. 

Abraham Lincoln was one of those few men at the sight of whom 
we trust and take courage.—; John Bascom. 

Mr. Lincoln was a genuine product of our democratic institutions 
and had a living faith in their permanency. — Henry Wilson. 

Look down as deep as you may into his profound nature, you will 
see that it is clear as a moteless fountain. — Gilbert Haven. 

He was simple in life, clear in his views of right and duty, firm in 
his will long before the flag of war was unfurled. — David Swing. 

He combined the integrity of Washington with the humanity of 
Wilberforce. — George W. Julian. 

He brought to the duties of the presidential office the best quali- 
ties of manhood. — R. B. Ayers. 

Abraham Lincoln's greatness and worth lay in bis simple manhood, 
he was a whole man, human to the core of his heart. — Robert Collier. 

Lincoln was the ideal President, when the nation most wanted the 
right man in the right place. — Henry IV. Bellows. 

Abraham Lincoln was the kind of a man Carlyle in his better 
days taught vis to worship as a hero. — John Stuart Mill. 



TRIBUTES I95 

The great President affords much that tends to advance all that is 
good and noble among men.— John Bright. 

His love of honesty and fair dealings was one of his prominent 
characteristics ; he never stooped to trickery. — Geo. W. Minier. 

No hand was ever stretched toward liberty that was not grasped 
and championed and saved by Abraham Lincoln. — F. W. Gunsaulus. 

There is in the crown of England no diamond whose luster will 
not pale before the name of Abraham Lincoln. — Robert Ingersoll. 

President Lincoln excelled all his contemporaries in capacity for 
delay when action was fraught with peril, in the power of immediate 
and resolute decision when delays were dangerous. — George S. Bout- 
well. 

The pages of the history of his times record the proofs of his 
courage and wisdom, and of his fidelity to his country and to human 
liberty. — M. C. Meigs. 

He was just the man to strike with favor every person who knew 
toil and privation, for he experienced the severest privations from 
earliest boyhood to mature manhood. — Leonard W. Volk. 

He was tested in every way through the great struggle, and his 
rare virtues will endear him to the American people the more they 
study his life.— S. Wells Williams. 

He was a patriot and a wise man. His death was a calamity for 
the country, but it left his fame without a fault or criticism. — Chas. 
A. Dana. 

Courts and kingdoms might be searched in vain for a prince who, 
by tradition and culture, had attained such wisdom in the government 
of men as had the son of the backwoods. — Frederick Smyth. 

Just finishing his great work, just about to reap the harvest of all 
his toil, just showing how moderate and wise and tender he was 
going to be, he was cut down by an assassin. — Chas. P. Mcllvaine. 



196 TRIBUTES 

The unwavering faith in a divine Providence began at his mother's 
knee, and ran like a thread of gold through all the inner experiences 
of his life. — J. G. Holland. 

The greatness of his figure in our history stands so near and towers 
so high that it cannot be taken in at a glance in this generation. — 
Joseph P. Bradley. 

His thoughts were his own ; they were fresh and original, and were 
clothed with a quaintness, a distinctness, a simplicity of style pecu- 
liar to himself. — Charles Henry Hart, 

No one who knew him ever knew another man like him. He 
stands out from the whole world of his time, isolated and alone.— 
Leonard Swell. 

If he had not the refinement of education, nor the artificial polish 
of society, yet he never repelled a child, nor crimsoned the cheek of 
a woman, nor wounded the self-respect of man. — Charles B. 
Sedgwick. 

He knew how to put a great thought or argument in a few plain 
and simple words. Many of his sayings are like proverbs, and 
proverbs, we know, are the practical wisdom of men condensed in a 
few brief sentences. — Peter Russell. 

Sprung from no royal line, without one drop of regal blood, un- 
versed entirely in the sophistries, the intrigues, the hollow, heartless 
etiquette of courts. Uncouth, some said he was, but better be 
uncouth and honest than polished and a knave. — William T. Sabine. 

He was with us during all the war; the thought of him, his 
sagacity, his fidelity, his buoyant hope, has cheered us in seasons of 
despondency. We felt secure while he was at the helm, and were 
confident so long as he was not afraid. — R. H. Neale. 

Humble in his estimate of his own abilities, yet confident of the 
sincerity and integrity of his aims and principles, he was ready to 
receive suggestions and advice from every source, and was accessible 
to the humblest man or woman in the land. — H. Dunning* 



TRIBUTES I97 

Loving his country with his whole heart, and yet room enough in 
that heart for kindness to the humblest fellow-creature, and compas- 
sion for every sufferer ; but with no room for one vindictive feeling 
toward his own or even his country's foes. — George Putman. 

I have not the ability to portray the character or recount the life of 
Abraham Lincoln. This will be done, and when it is done, the 
world will assign to Abraham Lincoln no inferior place among the 
greatest and the best of men. — W. H. Hornblower. 

His large, generous, honest heart ever beat responsive to the inter- 
ests of all the inhabitants of the land and indicated the deepest con- 
cern in their welfare. Their good was his aim and heart's desire ; 
and their happiness his happiness. — D. T. Carnahan. 

President Lincoln took up into his long arms, his capacious mind, 
his great heart, all the jarring elements of factions, all the differences 
of his friends, all the necessities of his enemies. He was patient 
with all, forgiving to a fault as a child. — Hiram P. Crozier. 

He knew his opportunity. He did not take a step till it was time 
to take it — did not take it to retrace it. He took no backward steps, 
but from the first moved steadily forward toward the great end, all 
the while gaining ground and never losing it. — Isaac E. Carey. 

To integrity of purpose, firmness of will, patience in investigation, 
unswerving fidelity to trust, and a deep impression of his accounta- 
bility to the nation and to God, he added a thorough knowledge of 
the theory and principles of our government, and of men. — D. Dyer, 

His illustrations, not unfrequently derived from the most humble 
and familiar source, were selected, not to adorn, but to give point to 
his speech, and because of their fitness to make his meaning clear to 
the great mass of men. — -James Cooper. 

His writings themselves are so full, so clear, so rich, so earnest, 
so reliant upon the nation and upon God, that now that the strife is 
over, we cannot read them without a thrill of enthusiasm. — Charles 
Carroll Everett. 



198 TRIBUTES 

Our leader saw the promised land, but was never to enter it. The 
sea, desert, the strifes and seditions, were past, and the land of 
plenty was before the people. But on Pisgah he died. — Alonzo H. 
Quint. 

The door to honorable promotion and unlimited success in every 
walk of life is left wide open to merit, as well in the lower class as in 
the higher classes ; and the worthy poor have oftener gained honora- 
ble distinction in our country than the rich. — Thomas Swaim. 

He has a monument more durable than brass in the hearts of the 
American people. He needs no marble, no emblazoned escutcheon. 
He lives forever in history, and is henceforth enrolled in the records 
of mankind among the great martyrs of liberty. — Dr. Lord. 

Some men of courtly manners and courtly expressions criticised his 
homely ways and style of language ; but the people loved him, 
trusted him, and his clear, strong, sound utterances carried conviction. 
— Gordon Hall. 

The bullet-shot that evening delivered has effectually nailed to the 
mast of the Ship of State the banner of emancipation, of universal, 
unconditional, uncompensated, and unrepealable enfranchisement.— 
Wm. R. Williams. 



He felt himself swept out into the current of a purpose, as majes- 
tic in grandeur as it was celestial in origin ; the sublime purpose of 
Him to whom nations belong, to care for this Western Republic in 
the hour of its manifest peril. — Charles S. Robinson. 

He was happy, too, in the time of his death. It was the sunrise 
of peace upon the land ; a momentary pang, he knew not whence or 
what it was, and he was happy in death.— Wm. Ires Buddington. 

Lincoln was a man bqth of words and deeds ; his latter words are 
so interwoven with and constitute part of his deeds that both will 
survive— the latter, the root and stalk ; the former, the flower, of his 
fame. — Henry C. Whitney. 



TRIBUTES I99 

Abraham Lincoln, in my view, was charged with a divine mission, 
which he executed wisely and well, and is justly entitled to the rever- 
ence, gratitude, and love of all loyal citizens of our great republic— 
Neal Dow. 

He arrived at conclusions not by intuition, but by argument. This 
made him appear slow in difficult questions, but it gave him all the 
certainty of logic and the abiding convictions of duty. Once at a 
decision, he could not be moved from it. — C. H. Fowler. 

There were men of might about his council board, scholars and 
statesmen, but none arose to his altitude, much less was either his 
master. His eye swept a wide horizon and descried clearly all within 
its circumference. — T. M. Eddy. 

His great business was a single one, and that was to rebind the 
Union. There was but one method of doing it, and that was to 
unbind the slave. He did the latter, and thus accomplished the 
former. — Cornelius H. Edgar. 

The tree of liberty is firmly planted upon our soil. Its roots strike 
into half a million of freedmen's graves ; its center-root strikes to the 
bottom of Lincoln's grave. It is well watered by the blood of 
America's best. — S. Reed. 

As the lapse of time shall smooth the asperities of a civil war, and 
shall throw its mellowing influences over the stories of his early life, 
his public services as President will stand without a rival or a peer in 
the day to which he belonged. — Samuel F. Miller. 

His most striking characteristic was great common sense. That 
was the sheet anchor of his practical character. He always seemed 
to know when to speak and when to act, as well as when not to 
speak and not to act. — J. P. Dailey. 

The President's last smiles were in thinking that the sad conscripts 
might be released, and the weary soldier soon discharged, and the 
wounded patriot soon on his own couch at home, telling his neighbors 
how he bravely fought his country's battles. — Wm. M. Blackburn. 



200 TRIBUTES. 

When, in the very flush and glory of the triumphant progress of 
his armies, he showed a noble magnanimity of soul toward the van- 
quished, which stands as solitary among the history of rebellions, as 
our Republic does among the family of nations. — J. F. Garrison. 

At City Point he moved down the long line of prostrate men — 
visiting each cot, taking the sick soldier by the hand, laying his hand 
on the pale brow, speaking a kind word to this one and that — till he 
had shed sunshine in every invalid's heart. — Robert Lowry. 

When Victory hung out her glorious banner, he extended kindness, 
sympathy, forgiveness, for the suffering. Not one word of reproach, 
not a single taunt, not a whisper of revenge, not a desire for one 
degree of unnecessary sorrow. — Mason Noble. 

He lived long enough to vindicate his policy in the conduct of the 
war, and to see the triumph of constitutional power — but not long 
enough to make a single mistake in the new field of duty, which was 
just opening before him. — H. E. Niles. 

As we review his words and various state papers which came from 
his hand, they are stamped with a maturity of judgment which the 
annals of the future will inscribe. Few have equaled, and none 
excelled. — C. C. Wallace. 

He was a frequent visitor in our camp, and we were enabled to 
observe his character in its most familiar aspects. He walked about 
among the soldiers in the freest manner, and with a kind word for 
everyone whom he met. — Augustus Woodbum. 

Just as the blood and wounds of contending armies were drying up 
and healing on those silent and deserted battlefields, the chair of 
state sinks into the bier of death, on which lies that which m once 
the warm and useful life of Abraham Lincoln. — David C, CodJington. 

We have had men who could take a higher intellectual grasp of 
any abstruse problem of statesmanship, but few have ever equaled, 
and none excelled, Lincoln in the practical, common-sense, and suc- 
cessful solution of the gravest problems ever presented in American. 



TRIBUTES. 201 

history. He possessed a peculiarly receptive and analytical mind. 
He sought information from every attainable source. He sought it 
persistently, weighed it earnestly, and in the end reached his own 
conclusions. When he had once reached a conclusion as to a public 
duty, there was no human power equal to the task of changing his 
purpose. — A. K. McClure. 

His life has been of great good to this nation, because he " desired 
to be on the Lord's side," gave his voice for the freedom of the 
oppressed, and his life for the union of the States. — John G. Fee. 

He will go down the dim aisles of the future with the torches of 
rejoicing flaming all around him, carried by four millions of a 
despised race, from whose limbs he struck the chains \—J. Hazard 
Hartzell. 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Journey to Washington, Speeches, Remarks, etc. 

A Heart True to the Work, Buffalo, N. Y., February 16, 
1861 58 

Add Star upon Star, Raising a New Flag over Indepen- 
dence Hall, February 22, 1861, ..... 64 

Arrival in Washington, Response to an Address of Wel- 
come from the Mayor, February 27, 1861, . . 66 

Behind the Cloud the Sun is Still Shining, Tolono, 111., 
February II, 1861, 52 

Flag May Still Be Kept Flaunting Gloriously, The, State 
Legislature, Harrisburg, February 22, 1861, . . 65 

Humblest of All the Presidents, State Legislature, Albany, 
N. Y., February 18, 1861 59 

I Shall very soon Pass away from You, Columbus, O., 
February 13, 1861, 55 

Liberty for All Future Time, Independence Hall, Phila- 
delphia, February 22, 186 1, . . . . . . . 63 

Majority of the American People Must Rule, Steubenville, 
O., February 14, 1861, 56 

No One More Devoted to Peace, Assembly Chamber, 
Trenton, N. J., February 21, 1861 62 

Ohio Legislature, Address to, Columbus, February 13, 
1861, 55 

Preserve the Union and Liberty, Indianapolis, Ind., Feb- 
ruary ir, 1861, 53 

People's Power Eternal, Lawrenceburg, Ind., February 12, 
1861, 53 

Response to an Address of Welcome, Cincinnati, February 
12, 1861, 54 

Response to an Address of Welcome, Cleveland, O., 
February 15. 1861, 58 

Stand by the Union, Response to an Address of Welcome, 

New York, February 20, 186 1 60 

203 



204 



INDEX. 



Struggle for Liberty, Address in the Senate Chamber, 
Trenton, N. J., February 21, i86r, .... 61 

Tariff, A Just and Equitable, Pittsburg, Pa., February 15, 
1861 57 

Will Carry the Ship of State through the Storm, With 
Help, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., February 19, 1861, . 60 



Dispatches, Letters, etc., to Army Generals. 
Buell, General Don Carlos, January 6, 1862, 
Burnside, General Ambrose E., Referring to General 

Grant, July 27, 1863, 

Curtis, General Samuel R., January 2, 1863, 

Grant, General Ulysses S., Letter to, October 8, 1862, 

Grant, General Ulysses S., Acknowledgment to, July 13, 

1863 

Grant, General Ulysses S., Commissioned Lieutenant 

General, March 9, 1864, ...... 

Grant, General Ulysses S., Reply of, . 

Grant, General Ulysses S., Letter to, April 30, 1864, 

Grant, General Ulysses S., Dispatch to, June 15, 1864, 

Grant, General Ulysses S., Dispatch to, August 17, 1864, 

Hunter, General David, October 24, 1861, . 

Halleck, General Henry W., October 16, 1863, 

Hooker, General Joseph, 1863, 

Hooker, General Joseph, May 7, 1863, 

McClellan, General George B., April 9, 1862, 

Rosecrans, General W. S., October 4, 1863, 

Scott, General Winfield, September 16, 1861, 

Schofield, General John M., May 24, 1863, 

Schofield, General John M., June 22, 1863, . 

Sickles, General D. E., 1863, . 

Sheridan, General P. H., October 22, 1864, 

Sherman, General W. T., December 26, 1864, 

Thomas, General Lorenzo, July 8, 1863, 

Wadsworth, General James S., 1864, 



78 

113 

97 
87 



125 
126 
132 
140 
M5 
76 
121 

99 
103 

78 
118 

75 
104 
105 
123 

153 

165 
109 
130 



Messages to Congress. 

Army and Navy, Continued Dependence upon, December 

8. 1863 

Army and Navy, Providing Pay for, January 19, 1863, 



124 
98 



INDEX. 205 



Another and Not I Must Be their Instrument, Fourth 

Annual Message, December 6, 1864, .... 161 

Inaugural Address, First, March 4, 1861, ... 68 

Labor the Superior of Capital, December 3, 1861, . . 76 

No Moral Right to Shrink, July 4, 1861, ... 75 

Slavery in the District of Columbia, April 16, 1862, . . 79 

Way is Plain, The, December 1, 1862, .... 89 
With Malice toward None, with Charity for All, Second 

Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865, .... 168 

Political Speeches, Letters, etc. 

Abraham Lincoln, I Am Humble, First Political Speech, 
Pottsville, 111., 1832, I 

A House Divided against Itself Cannot Stand, Speech at 
Republican State Convention, Springfield, 111., June 17, 
1858, 21 

Remarks in Defense of the Above Speech : 

This Nation Cannot Live on Injustice, Springfield, June 

17, 1858, 27 

Would Leave It to the World Unerased, Reply to Dr. 
Long, ......... 28 

Wisest Thing I Ever Did, To a Party of Friends, . 28 

Candidate for the Illinois Legislature, Letter to the 
Journal, Springfield, 111., June 13, 1836, ... 3 

Disadvantages the Republicans Labor Under, Speech at 
Springfield, 111., July 17, 1858, 26 

Education the Most Important Subject to the People, 
Address, New Salem, 111., March 9, 1832, . . I 

Eternal Fidelity to the Just Cause, Speech Made in the 
Harrison Campaign, 1840, ...... 7 

Electric Cord in the Declaration of Independence, The, 
Reply to Douglas, Chicago, 111., July 10, 1858, . 23 

Lincoln and Douglas Joint Debate ; 

Ottawa, 111., August 21, 1858, 29 

Freeport, 111., August 27, 1858, .... 30 

Jonesboro, 111., September 15, 1858, .... 31 
Charleston, 111., September 18, 1858, ... 32 

Galesburg, 111., October 7, 1858, .... 33 
Quincy, 111., October 13, 1858, .... 33 

Alton, 111., October 15, 1858, 34 



206 INDEX. 



Religious Bodies, Replies to. 

Christian Commission, Reply to an Invitation from the, 

February 22, 1863, 102 

Clergymen, Reply to a Company of, 1864, . . . 143 

Duryea, Rev. J. T., Firm Belief in Providence, 1864, . 137 

East Baltimore Methodist Conference, 1862, ... 81 

Illinois Clergyman, Reply to an, 1864, . . . 154 

Lutheran General Synod, Committee from, May, 1862, 80 

Lutheran General Synod, Committee from, August, 1864, 144 
Methodist Conference, Reply to a Committee from the, 

May, 1864, 134 

Presbyterians, General Assembly of, Reply to a Committee 

of Sixty-five, May, 1863, 103 

Religious Denominations of Chicago, Reply to a Deputa- 
tion from All, September 13, 1862, .... 83 
Sunderland, Rev. Byron, and Friends, Remarks to, 1862, 94 

Slavery and Freedom, Speeches, etc. 

All Men are Created Equal, Speech at Chicago, 111., 

December 10, 1856 19 

Dred Scott Decision, Speech on the, Springfield, 111., June 

26, 1857, 20 

Faith that Right makes Might, Speech at Cooper Institute, 

New York, February 27, i860, ..... 42 

Hopeless Peaceful Emancipation of the Slave, Letter, 

1855, 18 

Injustice of Slavery, The, Speech at Peoria, 111., October 

16, 1854 14 

Natural Right of the Negro, Speech at Columbus, O., 

September, 1859, 3° 

One Retrograde Institution in America, The, Reply to 

Douglas, Springfield, 111., October 4, 1854, . . 17 

Protest in the Illinois Legislature, 1837, .... 4 
Redemption of the African Race, Springfield, 111., July 

16, 1852 13 

Those Who Deny Freedom to Others, etc., Letter to 

Republicans of Boston, April, 1859, .... 36 

Si.a'.i , Emancipation op, Speeches, *tc. 

Emancipation, Gradual, Conference with Congressmen 

from Border Slave States, July 1 2, 1862, ... 79 



INDEX. 207 

PAGE 

Emancipation Proclamation, Reading the, to his Cabinet, 

September 22, 1862, 84 

Emancipation Proclamation, Preliminary, Issued Septem- 
ber 22, 1862, 86 

Emancipation Proclamation, Issue of, January 1, 1863, 95 

Emancipation Proclamation, Congratulating the President 

on Issuing the, . 115 

Emancipation Proclamation, Sketch of its History, . 100 
Emancipation Proclamation, Congratulating the President 

on Issuing the, 115 

Emancipation, Gradual, in Missouri, Reply to General 

Schofield, June 22, 1863, 105 

His Vow before God, Remarks to Secretary Chase, . . 98 
Not One Word of It Will I ever Recall, Remarks to some 
Friends, New Year's Evening, 1863, ... 97 

Miscellaneous, Speeches, Letters, etc. 

Abraham Lincoln, Autobiography of, December, 1859, . 39 
Abraham Lincoln, Last Public Address of, April 11, 1865, 178 
Abraham Lincoln, Last Letters Written, One of the, April 

14. 1865 179 

Abraham Lincoln, Last Written Words of , April 14, 1865, 181 
Abraham Lincoln, Last Verbal Message, April 14, 1865, 179 
American Citizens are Brothers, All, Springfield, 111., 

November 20, i860, -49 

Already too many Weeping Widows, Reply to an Army 

General, ......... 128 

Advice to an Officer who had been Court-martialed, . . 134 
A Presentiment, Remarks to Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, 

1864, 136 

Anything to Strengthen and Sustain General Grant, June, 

1864, 138 

All Animated by the same Determination, December 22, 

1864, 163 

Anxious to Aid the Good Cause, December, 1864, . . 164 
Campaign Clubs before the White House, Speech to, 

November 10, 1864, 156 

Care and Anxiety of the President, Remarks made in 

December, 1864, 165 

Captured Flag, Presentation of a, Remarks at the Gather- 
ing, March 17, 1865, 172 



208 INDEX. 

PAGE 

Colored Soldier, Praise for the, 1864 130 

Consecrated Himself to Christ, Reply to an Illinois Clergy- 
man, 1864, 154 

Defends the Secretary of War, August 6, 1862, . . 82 

Dispensing Patronage, Letter to the Postmaster General, 

July 27, 1863 112 

" Dixie," our Lawful Prize, Speech to a Gathering before 
the White House, April 10, 1865, . . . .177 

" Early History," Mr. Lincoln's, Reply to One who Asked 
for a Sketch of his Life, . . . . . . 51 

Father, Message to his Dying, Letter to his Brother-in- 
law, 1851 12 

Farewell Address to his Neighbors, just before Leaving for 
Washington, February 11, 1861, .... 51 

Fernando Wood, Hon., of New York, Letter to, Decem- 
ber 12, 1862, 92 

Gratitude to God, Proclamation, July 4, 1863, . . 107 

Gettysburg, Battlefield of , Address on, November 19, 1863, 121 

Gettysburg, Acknowledgment of Flowers from the Battle- 
field of, January 24, 1865, 167 

Gettysburg, Asked God for Victory at, 1863, . . . 123 

God Alone Can Claim It, Letter to A. G. Hodges, April 4, 
1864, 128 

Going Through on this Line if It Takes Three Years 
More, Speech at a Philadelphia Fair, June 18, 1864, 141 

Greatest Credit Due the Common Soldier, Speech to the 
189th N. Y. Infantry, October 24, 1864, . . . 154 

God will Control the Hearts of the People, Reply to 

Friends, ......... 164 

Gratitude, Letter of, To a Voter 104 Years of Age, 
November, 1864 158 

Grief-stricken Mother, Letter to a, November 21, 1864, 159 

Hawaiian Islands, Interest in, Address to Minister Allen, 
April 11, 1864, 129 

Illinois Republican State Convention, Declines an Invita- 
tion to Attend, August 36, 1863 113 

Indebted to the Christian I'eople, Letter to Mrs. Eliza P. 

Gumey, September 30, 1864 148 

Jefferson, All Honor to, Reply to an Invitation, April 6, 

1861 74 



INDEX. 209 

PAGB 

Last Visit to his Law Office before Leaving for Washing- 
ton, 1861, 51 

Letter to Thomas H. Clay of Cincinnati, October 8, 
1862, 87 

Last Letters Written, One of the, April 14, 1865, . . 179 

Last Verbal Message, April 14, 1865, .... 179 

Modesty of Mr. Lincoln, Shown in a Speech at the State 
Fair, Springfield, 111, August 8, i860, .... 47 

Malice, Will Do Nothing in, Letter, July 28, 1862, . 81 

Missouri, Affairs in, Letter to Hon. Charles D. Drake, 
October 5, 1863, 119 

Mother's Prayers, His, Conversation with a Friend, . 121 

Majyland's Proposed New Constitution, Regarding, Octo- 
ber 18, 1864, 151 

Maryland Abolishes Slavery, Response to a Serenading 
Party in Honor of, October 19, 1864, . . . 152 

Nomination for the Presidency, Would not Buy the, i860, 45 

Nomination for the Presidency, First News of his, May 8, 
i860, 46 

Nomination for the Presidency, Formal Announcement of 
his, May 19, i860, 46 

Nomination for the Presidency, Second, 1864, . 139 

Nomination for the Presidency, Acceptance of the, June 
27, 1864, 142 

National Thanksgiving, A Day for, Proclamation, July 15, 
1863, no 

National Union League, Response to Remarks by a Dele- 
gation of the, June 9, 1864, ..... 139 

No Cessation of Hostilities Short of the End of the War, 
Instructions to William H. Seward, January, 1865, . 171 

Negroes Kneel at the President's Feet, Richmond, April 
4. 1865 173 

Negroes in the Streets of Richmond, Remarks to, April 4, 
1865, 174 

Not Scared about Himself at all, Reply to Schuyler 
Colfax, 1865, 176 

Opponents, Kindly Feelings for, Speech at Cincinnati, O. , 
September, 1859, 37 

Observance of the Sabbath in the Army and Navy, General 
Orders, November 15, 1862 88 



2IO INDEX. 

PAGE 

Opening of a Fair, Speech at an, Baltimore, Mi, April 1 8, 

1864, 130 

Only Mortal after all, Remarks to a Friend, . . .158 
Our People Can Afford to be Magnanimous, Interview, 
December, 1864, ....... 160 

Perpetuation of our Free Institutions, Address at Spring- 
field, 111., January, 1837, 5 

Pledge with Cold Water, The, May, i860, ... 47 

People Will Do Well if Well Done by, The, Speech at 

Bloomington, 111., November 21, i860, ... 50 

Peculiar Position at the Capital, His, Address to the Re- 
publican Association, February 28, 1861, ... 67 
Paramount Object to Save the Union, Reply to a Com- 
plaining Editorial by Horace Greeley, August 19, 1862, 83 
Protest from Erastus Corning and Others, Reply to a, 

June 13, 1863 105 

Pardon for a Deserter, Remarks to Schuyler Colfax, 1863, 115 
Plea for the Colored People, Letter to Governor-Elect of 

Louisiana, January 11, 1864, ..... 124 
Pardon for a Sleeping Sentry, Remarks to a Friend, . 127 
Plea for the Life of a Soldier, Reply to a, . . 128 
Proclamation of Thanksgiving and Prayer, May 9, 1864, 135 
Pardon, Answer to an Application for, 1864, . . . 146 
Peace Negotiations, Regarding, To Confederate Commis- 
sioners, July 18, 1864, 143 

Presentation of a Bible by Colored People, October, 1864, 150 
Princeton College Confers a Degree of LL. D., December 

27, 1864, 166 

Preserving the Peace of Maryland, Message to Governor 

Hicks, April 20, 1861, 74 

Refusal to Pardon a Man for Importing Slaves, 1863, . 116 
Restoring the Union the Sole Purpose of the War, 1864, 133 
Ratifying the Election, Speech at a Meeting in Front of 

the White House, November 20, 1864, . . . 159 

Remarks to his Wife on the Fatal Day. April 14, 1865, 181 

Settlement with an Agent of the Post Office Department, 

1859 39 

Sees the Storm Coming, A Quiet Talk at Springfield, 111., 

During the Campaign <>f i860, ..... 49 

Story-telling was a Relief, Remarks to a Congressman, 1864, 137 



INDEX. 211 

PACK 

Seeks Relaxation at the Theater, Remarks to Schuyler 
Colfax, 1864, 145 

Stand Fast to the Union and the Flag, Speech to the 148th 

Ohio Infantry, 1864, 146 

Serenade at the White House, Response to a, July 7, 1863, 107 
Serenade at the White House, Response to a, May 13, 

1864 136 

Serenade on the Night of the Election, Response to a, 

November 9, 1864, 155 

Serenaders, Reply to a Party of, April 10, 1865, . . 176 
Soldiers of the Nation, Will Favor, 1864, . . . 166 

Second Annual Message, Regarding his, Letter to Thur- 

low Weed, March 15, 1865, 171 

Shakes Hands with over Six Thousand Soldiers, April 8, 

1865, 175 

Temperance Cause, Address at Springfield, 111., February 

22, 1842, 8 

Tariff, Protective, Letter Regarding, October II, 1859, 42 

Tenders the Thanks of the Nation, Address to the Army 

of the Potomac, December 22, 1862, .... 93 
Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, Issued October 3, 1863, 116 
Times are Dark, The, Remarks to Rev. Byron Sunderland, 

December, 1862, 94 

Visits Grant's Headquarters at City Point, . . .173 

Visits Richmond on the Day of the Surrender of that City, 

1865 173 

We Shall Try to Do Our Duty, Speech at Leavenworth, 

Kans., i860, 45 

Will Carry Out the Work Commenced, Speech to the 164th 

Ohio Infantry, September, 1864, .... 147 
Willing to Act though it Costs his Life, Reply to a 

Friend, August 6, 1862, 82 

Women of America, God Bless the, Speech at a Ladies' 

Fair, Washington, March 16, 1864, .... 126 
Workingmen of Manchester, England, Reply to an Address 

from the, January 19, 1863, 99 

Would Willingly Exchange Places with the Soldier, 

Remarks to Schuyler Colfax, 1864, .... 137 



INDEX TO TRIBUTES. 



A Choice Selection of Eloquent Sayings Gathered from Distinguished 
People. 

PAGE 

Anderson, Rasmus B., Author, 193 

Abbott, Lyman, Author and Divine, 148 

Arthur, Timothy S. , Author, . 162 

Ayers, Romeyn B., Major General, U. S. A., . . . 194 

Atwood, Edward S., Clergyman, 61 

Andrew, John A., ex-Governor of Massachusetts, . . 10 

Armitage, Thomas, Clergyman 190 

Adams, William, Clergyman, 6 

Bascom, John, Educator, 194 

Black, John C, Brevet Brigadier General, U. S. A., . . 179 

Burk, Thomas, English Politician, 193 

Blaine, James Gillespie, Statesman, 188 

Bright, John, English Statesman, ...... 195 

Boutwell, George S., ex-Governor of Massachusetts, . . 195 

Bates, Edward, Lincoln's Attorney General, .... 191 

Bellows, Henry W., Clergyman, .... . 194 

Bullock, Alex. H., ex-Governor of Massachusetts, . . 190 

Bradley, Joseph P., American Jurist, ..... 196 

Buckingham, William A., ex-Governor of Connecticut, . . 87 

Bradley, William O., Lawyer, 63 

Bateman, Newton, Educator, 29 

Badger, Henry E., Clergyman 90 

Brooks, Phillips, Clergyman, 85 

Barrows, John H., Clergyman, 103 

Bennett, Emerson, Journalist, 193 

Blanchard, Rufus, Author, . . . . . . . no 

Barnum, Phineas T., Showman, . . . ... 99 

"3 



214 



INDEX TO TRIBUTES. 



Bailey, James M., Journalist, . . . 

Breece, Sidney, Lawyer, .... 

Bacon, Leonard, Clergyman, 

Banks, Nathaniel P., Major General, U. S. A., 

Bryant, William Cullen, Poet, 

Benjamin, Samuel G. W., Author, 

Bascom, A. B., Clergyman, . . 

Butler, Henry E., Clergyman, 

Buckley, Edwin A., Clergyman, 

Blackburn, William M., Clergyman, 

Binney, William, Lawyer, 

Bradford, B. F., Clergyman, 

Bingham, J. C, Clergyman, 

Buddington, William Ives, Clergyman 

Butler, Clement M., Clergyman, 

Burdick, C. F., Clergyman, 

Baldridge, S. C, Clergyman, , 

Backman, Charles, Clergyman, 

Booth, Robert R., Clergyman, 

Burnam, C. F., Lawyer, 

Burnside, Ambrose E., Major General, U. S 

Beveridge, J. L. , ex-Governor of Illinois, 

Bancroft, George, Historian, 

Beecher, Henry Ward, Clergyman, 

Briggs, George W., Clergyman, 

Butler, Benjamin F., Major General, U. S. A., 

Crosby, Howard, Clergyman, 

Conkling, Roscoe, Statesman, 

Collier, Robert, Clergyman, 

Clark, James Freeman, Clergyman, 

Cooper, Peter, Philanthropist, 

Coxe, A. Cleveland, Episcopal Bishop, 

Cox, Samuel S., Author and Statesman, 

Colfax, Schuyler, Vice President, 

Coffen, Titian J., Assistant Attorney General, 

Cass, Lewis, Statesman, . 

Craig, Wheelock, Clergyman, 

Chase, Thomas, Educator, . 

Carnahan, D. T., Clergyman, . , , 



INDEX TO TRIBUTES. 



215 



Crozier, Hiram P., Clergyman, . 
Carey, Isaac E., Clergyman, . , 
Cooper, James, Clergyman, . 

Chester, John, Clergyman, 
Chaney, George L., Clergyman, 
Cudworth, Warren H., Clergyman, 
Cuyler, Theo. L., Clergyman, 
Carpenter, Francis B., Author, 
Cary, Phoebe, Poet, . . . 
Cary, Alice, Poet, ... 
Cameron, Mrs. R. A., Poet, 
Chadwick, John W., Clergyman, 
Carruthers, J. J., Clergyman, 
Coddington, David C, . . 



Davis, David, Jurist, 
Day, P. B., Clergyman, 
Dening, Henry Champion, Lawyer, 
Dana, Charles A., Journalist, , 

Depew, Chauncey M., Lawyer, . 
Dow, Neal, Temperance Reformer, 
Drake, Samuel Adams, Author, . 
Douglass, Frederick, Orator, . 
Dix, Morgan, Clergyman, . 
Drummond, Thomas, American Jurist, 
Dunning, H., Clergyman, . 
Darling, Henry, Clergyman, . 
Dean, Sidney, Clergyman, 
Dailey, J. P., Clergyman, 
Duane, Richard B., Clergyman, 
Dyer, David, Clergyman, 
Disraeli, Benjamin, British Statesman, 
D'Aubigne, Merle, Swiss Author, . 



Edison, Thomas Alva, Inventor, 
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, Author, 
Eddy, Richard, Clergyman, 
Eddy, T. M., Clergyman, 
Edgar, Cornelius Henry, Clergyman, 



PAGE 
197 
197 

197 
I8l 

134 

186 

I07 

159 
l6l 

77 

95 

120 

149 
200 



176 
192 
189 
195 
133 
199 
189 
191 
188 
190 
196 
56 
21 
199 
1 02 
197 
188 
165 

83 
168 
125 
199 
199 



2l6 



INDEX TO TRIBUTES. 



Ellis, Charles Mayo, Lawyer, .... 

Eddy, Daniel Clark, Clergyman, . . . 

Everett, Charles Carroll, Theologian, . . . 

Fulton, Justin Dewey, Clergyman, 

Fisher, George Park, Theologian, 

Fisk, Clinton Bowen, Brevet Major General, U. S. A 

Franklin, William Buel, Major General, U. S. A., 

Fee, John G., Educator, 

Foote, Henry Wilder, Clergyman, 

Forney, John W. , Journalist, .... 

Frieze, Henry Simmons, Educator, 

Frothingham, Octavius B. , Author and Divine, 

Frye, William P., United States Senator, 

Frelinghuysen, Frederick T., ex-United States Senator 

Fowler, Charles Henry, Clergyman, 

Fowler, Henry, Clergyman, 

Field, Richard Stockton, ex-United States Senator, 

Farquhar, John, Clergyman, .... 

Fox, Henry, Clergyman 



Gough, John B., Temperance Lecturer, 

Gunsaulus, F. W., Clergyman, 

Godwin, Parke, Journalist, .... 

Gear, D. L., Clergyman, .... 

Garland, Augustus IL, ex-United States Senator, 

Grant, Ulysses S., President and General, . 

Gurley, Phineas Densmore, Clergyman, 

Gordon, William Robert, Clergyman, 

Garrison, Joseph Fithian, Clergyman, 

Gaddis, M. P., Clergyman, 

( rrow, Galusha Aaron, Statesman, . . . 

( '.ray, Asa, Botanist 

I in y, Sir George, English Statesman, . . 

Haven, Gilbert, Methodist Bishop, 

II. .wells, William I lean, .Author, 

. Ratal, Hanker, .... 

Holland, fonah Gilbert, Author, 
iic, William, Clergyman, 



PAGE 

17 

15 

197 

188 

190 

193 

191 

201 

190 

124 

54 

75 

92 

188 

199 

158 

140 

171 
106 

128 

195 

27 

43 

30 

184 

187 

68 

200 

163 

135 

55 

123 

194 
1 04 
153 
196 

193 



INDEX TO TRIBUTES. 



217 



U. S. A. 



Hepworth, George H., Clergyman, 
Hubbard, Gurdon S., Trader, 
Hall, Newman, English Clergyman, 
Hart, Charles Henry, Author, 
Hancock, Winfield S. , Major General, 
Hammond, Charles, Clergyman, 
Hastings, Hugh J., Journalist, 
Hathaway, Warren, Clergyman, 
Hewitt, Abram S., Statesman, 
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Author, 
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, Author, 
Haven, Erastus Otis, Methodist Bishop, 
Harrington, C. S., Educator, . . . 

Hamlin, Hannibal, ex- Vice President U. S. t 
Hugo, Victor, Poet and Novelist, . . . 
Hayden, Mrs. Caroline A., Poet, . 

Hall, Gordon, Clergyman 

Hornblower, W. H., Clergyman, . . 

Hardinge, Miss Emma, Poet, . . . 

Hunt, Albert S., Clergyman, . . . 
Hooper, Mrs. Lucy Hamilton, Poet, 
Halpine, Charles Graham, Journalist and Poet, 
Hosmer, W. H. C, Poet, .... 
Hawley, Joseph R., Brevet Brigadier General, U 
Hurlbut, Stephen A., Major General, U. S. A., 
Hayes, Rutherford B., ex-President, U. S., 
Hale, Eugene, United States Senator, . . 
Hartzell, J. Hazard, Clergyman, . . 



Ingersoll, Robert G., Orator, 
Ingalls, John James, Statesman, 
Irvin, William, Clergyman, 



Johnson, Herrick, Clergyman, 
Julian, George W., Congressman, 
Janeway, J. L., Clergyman, 
Jeffery, R. Clergyman, . 



Kirkwood, Samuel J. , ex-Governor of Iowa, 
Kelley, William D., Congressman, . 



S. A. 



PAGE 
I 9 I 
I 9 I 

193 

I96 

9 
46 

34 

82 

89 

188 

67 

47 

185 

190 

193 
146 
198 
197 
131 
74 
160 
112 

94 
96 
188 
186 
136 
201 

195 

7 

31 

33 
194 

81 
180 

188 
192 



218 



INDEX TO TRIBUTES. 



Keeling, R. J., Clergyman, 
Krebs, Hugo, Clergyman, . . 
Kimball, Harriet McEwen, Poet, 



La Matyr, G. De, Congressman, . . . 
Leland, Charles Godfrey, Author, . . 

Lanman, Charles, Author, .... 

Lord, Rev. Dr., 

Ludlow, James M., Clergyman, . . . 
Lowe, Charles, Clergyman, .... 
Love, William De Loss, Clergyman, . 
Lothrop, Samuel Kirkland, Clergyman, 
Littlejohn, Abram Newkirk, Episcopal Bishop, 
Lowry, Robert, Clergyman, .... 
Lowe, Martha Perry, Poet, . . . 

Lowell, James Russell, Poet, . . . 

Laboulaye, Edouard, French Jurist and Author, 



Maynard, Horace, Statesman, . , 

Minier, George W., Merchant, .... 
Manning, J. M., Clergyman, ... 

Morton, Levi P., ex-Vice President, U. S., 
Murdoch, James Edwin, Actor, ... 
Miller, Samuel F., American Jurist, 
Meigs, Montgomery C, Major General, U. S. A., 
Mcllvaine, Charles P., Episcopal Bishop, . 
Man-in, James, Educator, .... 

Matthews, Stanley, Jurist, 

McLellan, Isaac, Poet, .... 

Morey, William C, Educator, .... 

McCullough, Hugh, Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, 

McClintock, John, Educator, .... 

McClure, A. K., Journalist, . 

Morgan, William F., Clergyman, 

Merritt, Wesley, Major General, U. S. A., . 

Mill, John Stuart, Author, ..... 

Mayo, A. D., Clergyman, ..... 

Morais, S., Clergyman, ..... 

McCauley, James A., Clergyman, 

Morehouse, H. L., Clergyman, .... 



PACK 

25 

71 

113 

I89 
I89 
193 
I98 
19 
41 

3 

155 

200 

52 

150 

144 

191 

195 

193 

51 

194 

199 

195 

195 

193 

66 

22 

190 

72 

193 

203 

192 

116 

194 

40 

26 

18 

167 



INDEX TO TRIBUTES. 



219 



Murray, William H. H., Clergyman, . 

Miner, A. A., Clergyman, 

Martin, Henri Louis Bon, French Historian, 



Nichols, Samuel J., Clergyman, . . 

Nason, Elias, Clergyman, 

Newton, Wm. Wilberforce, Clergyman, 

New, John C, Financier, . . 

Northrop, Cyrus, Educator, . . 

Niles, H. E., Clergyman, 

Nelson, Henry Addison, Clergyman, . 

Noble, Mason, Captain, U. S. Navy, 

Neale, Rollin Heber, Clergyman, . 



Porter, Noah, Clergyman, . . 

Porter, David D., Admiral, U. S. N., 

Phillips, Wendell, Orator, 

Pike, Albert, Lawyer, 

Patterson, James Willis, ex-United States Senator 

Porter, Robert P., Journalist, 



PACB 

154 
142 
109 

192 
192 
191 
189 

23 
200 

177 
200 
196 

194 

88 
20 
53 
73 
188 

93 

98 

118 

97 
114 

197 

5 

121 

175 

45 

8 

198 

100 

189 

193 

173 

4 

13 

Russell, Peter, Clergyman, I96 



Pratt, Calvin E., Brigadier General, U 
Palmer, Ray, Author and Clergyman, 
Poore, Ben. Perley, Journalist, 
Paddock, Wilbur F., Clergyman, 
Purinton, J. M., Clergyman, . 

Putnam, George, Clergyman, 
Patterson, Adoniram J., Clergyman, 
Patton, Alfred Spencer, Clergyman, 
Proctor, Edna Dean, Poet, . , 
Prime, S. Irenseus, Journalist, 
Payne, C. A., Educator, 



Quint, Alonzo Hall, Clergyman, 



S. A., 



Rector, H. M., ex-Governor of Arkansas, 

Rice, Alexander H., ex-Governor of Massachusetts, 

Ramsey, Alexander, Hayes' Secretary of War, . 

Rankin, Jeremiah E., Clergyman, 

Robinson, T. H., Clergyman, . . . . 

Rice, Nathan Lewis, Clergyman, ... 



220 



INDEX TO TRIBUTES. 



Robinson, Charles Seymour, Clergyman, 
Reed, S., Clergyman, .... 
Russell, Lord John, English Statesman, 

Stone, Andrew Leete, Clergyman, . 

Swing, David, Clergyman, 

Simpson, Matthew, Methodist Bishop, 

Smyth, Frederick, ex-Governor of New Hampshin 

Sherman, William T., Lieutenant General, U. S 

Strong, William, American Jurist, 

Smith, William F., Major General, U. S. A., 

Stoneman, George, Major General, U. S A., 

Spinner, Francis E., Secretary of the Treasury, 

Swisshelm, Jane Grey, Authoress, 

Smith, Richard, Journalist, .... 

Smith, Gold win, English Author, 

Storrs, Richard S., Clergyman, 

Speed, Joshua F., Merchant, 

Shuman, Andrew, Journalist, 

Stephens, Alex. H., Statesman, . 

Swett, Leonard, Lawyer, .... 

Smith, (!errit, Philanthropist, 

Sweetser, Seth, Clergyman, .... 

Stanton, Edwin M., Lincoln's Secretary of War, 

Stoddard, Richard Henry, Poet, 

Stedman, Edmund Clarence, Poet, 

Street, Alfred B., Poet 

Steiner, Lewis II., Physician, 

Sedgwick, Charles B., Congressman, 

Steele, Richard II., Clergyman, 

Staring, Edward, Clergyman, . . . 

Strung, J. D., Clergyman, .... 

Snively, William A., Clergyman, 

Smith, Henry, Clergyman, 

Slater, Edward C, Clergyman, 

S<-iss, Jo eph V . Theologian, 

Sabine, Wm, T., Clergyman, . . 

imuel Thayer, ( Clergyman, 
Swaim, Thomas, Clergyman, .... 
Speed, James, Lincoln's Attorney General, 



PAGE 

198 
199 
122 

I92 
I94 
183 

195 

191 

192 

I90 

86 

58 

78 

76 

84 

91 

193 

59 
192 
196 
190 

185 
60 
185 
M7 
172 

"7 
196 

39 

36 

166 

152 

35 

24 

11 

196 

170 

198 

62 



INDEX TO TRIBUTES. 



221 



Sumner, Charles, Statesman, .... 

Schurz, Carl, Statesman, 

Silva, Sr. Rebello da, Portuguese Statesman, 

Townsend, Edward Davis, Major General, U. S. A., 
Tyng, Stephen H., Clergyman, .... 
Taylor, Archibald A. E., Educator, 
Trowbridge, John Townsend, Author, . . 
Todd, John E., Clergyman, . . . 

Tapley, Rufus P., Lawyer, .... 

Thrall, S. C, Clergyman 

Thompson, John C, Clergyman, . . , 
Tucker, Joshua Thomas, Clergyman, 
Thomas, A. G., Clergyman, .... 
Thompson, Joseph Parrish, Clergyman, 
Taylor, Benjamin F., Author, 



Usher, John Palmer, Lincoln's Secretary of the Interior, 



Volk, Leonard Wells, Sculptor, 
Vincent, Marvin Richardson, Clergyman, 

Warner, Willard, ex-United States Senator, 
Wilson, Henry, ex-Vice President, 
Williams, S. Wells, Author, . 
Webb, Edwin B., Clergyman, 
Walden, Treadwell, Clergyman, 
Warner, Charles Dudley, Author, 
Winthrop, Robert Charles, Statesman, 
Whitney, Henry C, Author, 
Wilson, William T., Clergyman, 
Wallace, Charles C. , Clergyman, 
White, Erskine N., Clergyman, 
Williams, Robert H., Clergyman, 
Wortman, Denis, Clergyman, 
Woodburn, Augustus, Clergyman, 
Westall, John, Poet, 
Williams, William R., Clergyman, 
Watterson, Henry, Journalist, 



Yourtee, S. L., Clergyman, 



PAGE 

187 
129 

186 

108 
169 
192 

38 
119 

44 
137 

16 
101 
188 

14 

57 

194 

195 
138 

174 
194 

195 

193 

32 

42 

194 

198 

164 

200 

50 

37 

104 

200 

126 

198 

157 

130 



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